Google Buys DoubleClick. Wow.

Funny how you can be online all day and -- then you catch the biggest story on the good ol' fashio radio on your home commute.

Google acquired DoubleClick for $3.1 Billion.  It was announced after the markets closed today. While some analysts evidently think that Goog's overpaid for the grandaddy of ad networks, let us not forget that DoubleClick serves all the ads for MySpace, WSJ and AOL. DoubleClick pulled in about $300 Million last year.

Google's gone way beyond text-based search ads in recent years, but this acquisition puts them pretty squarely ahead of the pack. As the New York Times points out:

Acquiring DoubleClick expands Google’s business far beyond algorithm-driven ad auctions into a relationship-based business with Web publishers and advertisers. Google has been expanding its AdSense network into video and display ads online and is selling ads to a limited degree on television, newspapers and radio. 

The Times speculates that DoubleClick's new auction-based system, which is not limited to any publisher network, will be a springboard for Google offline aspirations.

My favorite quote on the acquisition comes from Shar von Boskirk, senior analyst, Forrester Research -- she hits the nail right on the head:

"This shores up Google as the absolute leader...This rounds out their capabilities in everything in the online space. There isn't anything they don't have."

Bingo.