DoubleClick Buys Out Shareholders in Scandinavian Branch

Ad services company DoubleClick on Wednesday bought the 90 percent it didn’t already own of DoubleClick Scandinavia, a company serving Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.

Financial terms of the stock-for-stock deal weren’t disclosed.

DoubleClick started its Scandinavian outpost in December 1997, when it bought ten percent of Advertising on Internet in Scandinavia AB for $377,725, and licensed out its name, technology and access to its personnel.

“As DoubleClick expanded internationally, we established presence with local partners in select markets to maintain our first mover advantage and to build global scale rapidly,” says Barry Salzman, president, DoubleClick International.

“Our strategy was to buy back these local companies over time. We are currently implementing that strategy and are delighted to have DoubleClick Scandinavia, operating in a region that is on the forefront of Internet development, become a full subsidiary of DoubleClick.”

Scandinavia is widely considered to be one of the most highly-developed Internet markets in Europe, because residents are highly educated, have relatively high incomes, and most speak English. Wireless technology is also very widespread in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.

DoubleClick Scandinavia has offices in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki, and company executives say it enjoys a market share of more than 30 percent.

The firm works with advertisers including Ericsson, SAS and SAAB.

DoubleClick currently has operations in 22 countries and the company says its international operations accounted for 20 percent of third quarter revenue in 1999.