i work in the online advertising sales field and am well familiar with doubleclick and their busniess practices. amoung other things, companies pay doubleclick to track advertising statistics (impressions, clicks, uniques, etc). doubleclick however is notorious for reporting impression statistics that fall usually between 15%-25% less than what publisher's tracking data reports (even when the publishers tracking practices are certified/verified by regulatory bodies such as the IAAA). advertisers know that by using doubleclick to track statistics comapred to publishers, they can easliy get rebates and kick backs ("make-goods") from the publishers, and once this discrpency is accounted for, doubleclick will assuredily lose revenue. IMHO this would be a huge mistake for MS to get involved with what is frankly a shaky and shady busniess model.

If MS wanted they would completely revamp the company - but usually when MS acquires another business it is for the contracts they hold - not the employees or current business models.