25 April 2005

The New York Post reports that the sale of DoubleClick to San Francisco-based leveraged buyout firm Hellman & Friedman, possibly for $1.2 billion.

The reported $1.2 billion price tag would value the enterprise at less than $1 billion, as the purchase would include roughly a quarter billion in cash over and above DoubleClick’s existing debt. The price per share would be about twenty percent higher than it closed Wednesday afternoon.

Shares of DoubleClick jumped in this morning’s trading, closing the gap between yesterday’s price and the rumored per-share offer by about half-way.

DoubleClick has been on the market since the last quarter of 2004, causing many companies in the industry to expect a consolidation.

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