Eric Schmidt chief executive officer of Google Inc.
#3. Google Buys DoubleClick for $3.1 Billion
A huge price for a company worth just more than $1 billion a couple of years ago. But Google craved DoubleClick's capabilities: The company's specialty is placing advertisements on websites, known in the trade as "serving." Buying DoubleClick also kept it out of the hands of Microsoft. The combo makes Google a more potent player in Web advertising against rivals Microsoft and Yahoo. The European Union isn't happy, though, and is giving the deal extra scrutiny.