The last barrier to the Google-DoubleClick $3.1 billion deal is about to fall, at least according to this Bloomberg report, which claims antitrust officials in the European Union expected to approve the acquisition without conditions as early as March 11.
The planned acquisition already won approval in the US from the Federal Trade Commission in December, but European approval of the deal would finally enable the search giant to combine its dominance in pay-per-click web advertising with DoubleClick's strength in the online display advertising market - something Microsoft won't be too happy about as it has been lobbying heavily against the deal, both in the US and in Europe.