The International Herald Tribune reports that companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL are buying once-obscure online advertising firms for eye-popping prices. The issue reached new heights May 18 when Microsoft agreed to pay $US 6 billion for the online advertising company aQuantive. It was Microsoft’s largest acquisition, and a sign of its desire to build an Internet advertising business.
Earlier, Google agreed to buy DoubleClick, a competitor of aQuantive, for $US 3.1 billion, outbidding Microsoft. Since then, all of Google’s main competitors have bought online advertising specialists. Source: http://www.iht.com:80/articles/2007/05/20/news/msft.php
Categories: Not home, Uncategorized
Stephen Quinn 
Interesting to to look at the list of acquisitions to date by Google (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Google) and Microsoft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Microsoft) and Yahoo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Yahoo!). Meanwhile the new kid on the block Facebook has its own needs: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-23/facebook-steps-up-acquisitions-to-add-users-as-google-rivalry-grows-tech.html