There was a post today in PaidContent that discusses the DoubleClick possible sale and potential synergies with Microsoft. DoubleClick was purchased about a year ago by a private equity firm, but it seems now that they are putting the company on the selling block. So why could this be trouble for AOL? Well, DoubleClick is the ad serving platform that drives an overwhelming majority of the ads served on the AOL Network, and if it falls into the hands of Microsoft, this could be really bad news. This would give Microsoft insider information on the traffic patterns of AOL, which competes directly with MSN for ad dollars.

So what happens, does Microsoft continue on with the discussions and make the outright purchase of DoubleClick? Or does AOL step in and make an offer to pick up DoubleClick? Maybe AOL parts ways with DoubleClick all together and leverage our in-house ad serving platform that we purchased a couple of years ago, ad.com.

Bridge over troubled water…..