Youssef Squali, the analyst with Jefferies & Co, came out with a research note last week in wake of the mating dance for DoubleClick. He said that the deal may spur others into action. “We see a DoubleClick take out by Google, Microsoft or AOL as a precursor to other moves by competitors. For example, we could easily see the company with the losing bid for DoubleClick going after Right Media, but given Yahoo’s 20% stake, the latter is likely to walk away with the prize. Others may be become targets as well, particularly aQuantive, ValueClick and 24/7 Real Media. Bottom line, the sale of DoubleClick is likely to spur the large players into action, driving up valuations for the group as a whole.”
Forbes.com: Some of DoubleClick’s competitors are optimistic about reproducing the company’s outsized price tag The company is reported to have generated $150 million in revenue last year; a $2 billion-plus price tag would mean a purchaser valued it at more than 15 times revenue. That’s about double the six- or seven-times revenue values typical of the industry’s market caps.