Ad services company DoubleClick on
Wednesday bought the 90 percent it didn’t already own of DoubleClick Scandinavia, a company
serving Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.
Financial terms of the stock-for-stock deal weren’t disclosed.
DoubleClick started its Scandinavian outpost in December 1997, when it
bought ten percent of Advertising on Internet in Scandinavia AB for
$377,725, and licensed out its name, technology and access to its personnel.
“As DoubleClick expanded internationally, we established presence with
local partners in select markets to maintain our first mover advantage and
to build global scale rapidly,” says Barry Salzman, president, DoubleClick
International.
“Our strategy was to buy back these local companies over
time. We are currently implementing that strategy and are delighted to have
DoubleClick Scandinavia, operating in a region that is on the forefront of
Internet development, become a full subsidiary of DoubleClick.”
Scandinavia is widely considered to be one of the most highly-developed
Internet markets in Europe, because residents are highly educated, have
relatively high incomes, and most speak English. Wireless technology is
also very widespread in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
DoubleClick Scandinavia has offices in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo and
Helsinki, and company executives say it enjoys a market share of more than
30 percent.
The firm works with advertisers including Ericsson, SAS and SAAB.
DoubleClick currently has operations in 22 countries and the company says
its international operations accounted for 20 percent of third quarter
revenue in 1999.