SAN FRANCISCO, April 13: A bidding war between Google and Microsoft ended on Friday with Google agreeing to pay $3.1 billion to add online advertising firm DoubleClick to its Internet money-making arsenal.

Google’s stock price dipped slightly in after hours trading as investors wrestled with whether its victorious bid resulted in it overpaying for DoubleClick.

“Google is throwing a lot of money at things and it is not clear that they are spending wisely,” analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group told AFP.

“After the negative press that followed the YouTube purchase it looks like investors are looking at this acquisition more carefully. Maybe buying DoubleClick is strategic, but it is not clear they are not wasting money.”

Video-sharing website YouTube, which Google bought in November in a $1.65bn stock deal, has generated copyright litigation instead of profits.—AFP