Google Inc. has agreed to pay $750 million in stock for AdMob Inc., a mobile-phone advertising start-up backed by, Sequoia Capital.

The deal shores up Google’s position in the mobile-advertising market, helping to decrease its reliance on desktop Internet ads, where growth is slowing.  AdMob, which sells ads displayed on wireless devices, has benefited from the popularity of smartphones. The US mobile-ad market should reach $2 billion to $3 billion by 2013, up from less than $1 billion now, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

AdMob’s sales should more than double this year, chief executive Omar Hamoui said.  “We chose Google, and we chose that over an independent path, and we chose that over other options,’’ he said. “We’re very excited about getting to Google. We feel like we’re going to be like kids in a candy store.’’

The company was founded in 2006 in Hamoui’s dorm room at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. AdMob initially just sold Web links, before branching out into graphical ads about a year later.
With this acquisition, Google becomes the largest player in the mobile-advertising industry, with an estimated 30 to 40 percent market share.

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