Google may be among the top ten donors to Barack Obama’s presidential election campaign, but it has received around 10 times its contribution back from the Illinois senator in advertising on its properties in the first quarter.
Federal Election Commission data compiled by ClickZ’s interactive marketing research network shows the Obama campaign spent $2.94m between January and March on Google ads.
The figure represents 86 per cent of Obama’s total estimated online ad spend of $3.4m in the first quarter.
Yahoo and Microsoft picked up the bulk of the remaining revenues, while Facebook received a measly $26,000.
Google’s lobbying arm and employees have contributed $309,000 to the Obama campaign to date, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, making it the eighth largest donor.
Microsoft is the only other tech company in the Top 20, contributing $209,000.

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