Silicon Alley's online advertising company DoubleClick Inc. has the go-ahead from its board of directors to spend up to $100 million to buy back shares of its outstanding common stock.

Shares of DoubleClick closed down by 15 percent to $6.99 Monday in a historic day of trading.

The decline was a similar story for many larger technology companies as well as Alley Stocks listed on the Nasdaq, which dropped roughly 7 percent in a historically heavy day of trading that saw all the major indexes fall following a four-day halt after the attack on the World Trade Center a week ago.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, for the first time in its history, also invoked emergency allowances for companies to make moves to repurchase their shares for a week.

But even prior to last Tuesday's events in the financial district, DoubleClick's shares had continued to slide, especially on concerns that the outlook for advertising dollars would be dim on economic data showing sluggish growth, and a possibility of a recession. In the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center towers, analysts expect an even more difficult outlook for advertising-related stocks for the near term.

The company said the purchases would be made from time to time, depending on market conditions and other factors.

Kevin Ryan, CEO, said the company remained deeply saddened by the events of last Tuesday, but would not let them disrupt the company's business.

"We believe our current stock price does not reflect DoubleClick's business and prospects for the future," he said.

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