Google to expand mobile ad efforts post-AdMob deal

Following the blockbuster announcement Google will acquire mobile advertising network AdMob in an all-stock deal valued at $750 million, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the agreement will herald an expansion in ad sales for mobile applications running on Apple's iPhone and the web services giant's own Android smartphone platform. "One the key success points for the iPhone was this enormous development of apps, and particularly free apps, which are advertising supported," Schmidt tells Bloomberg. "Now that we have our Android platform coming out, and really with some serious partners behind it, it will also be important to have that be true for Android as well as the others."

According to IDC analyst Karsten Weide, the combination of Google and AdMob will create a mobile advertising giant dominating between 30 and 40 percent of the total market segment. "AdMob is clearly the best of its ilk for applications monetization," Schmidt adds "We think that's as strategic as search monetization, which, of course, we're very good at." Schmidt also said that after the AdMob deal is completed, Google will use cash to buy back $750 million in stock to prevent the transaction from diluting investor holdings, the first time the company has instituted a stock repurchase.

For more on the Google/AdMob deal:
- read this Bloomberg article

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