The final act of one of the decade’s biggest business stories unfolded yesterday in Brussels, Belgium. The European Commission (the regulatory arm of the European Union) officially and unconditionally approved Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of New York-based DoubleClick, an Internet advertising corporation that specializes in “ad serving” (a method of delivering targeted ads to specific customers and demographics).

There was some speculation within the industry that the EU would not approve the merger, since it represented such a huge consolidation in the world of online commerce. Rivals cried “monopoly” and privacy groups objected to the combination of two large companies known for their effective information-gathering techniques.

However, those objections were not considered significant enough for the EU to block the merger. “The European Commission’s statement sought to play down the concerns, saying the deal was unlikely to have harmful effects on consumers, at least in the markets it considered,” wrote David Lawsky for Reuters news service. The EU also ruled that “the companies operate in different parts of the online advertising world and their deal was not a marriage of rivals,” according to the same story.

Upon its approval Tuesday, Google immediately finalized the purchase and took over management of Doubleclick.

Click here to read the Reuters article.