Microsoft to spend $6bn on Aquantive

In a bid to boost its presence in advertising, Microsoft said on Friday that it will pay $6bn (£3bn) to acquire Aquantive, a digital marketing and services company.

Microsoft said the deal will help it support more-advanced advertising products and technologies across areas including media planning, video on demand and IPTV. Aquantive produces the Atlas Media Console and Drive PM tools for advertisers and publishers, and owns interactive ad agency Avenue A/Razorfish.

"The advertising industry is evolving and growing at an incredible pace, moving increasingly toward online and IP-served platforms, which dramatically increases the importance of software for this industry," Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said in a statement. "Today's announcement represents the next step in the evolution of our ad network from our initial investment in MSN, to the broader Microsoft network including Xbox Live, Windows Live and Office Live, and now to the full capacity of the internet."

Microsoft said it will pay $66.50 (£33.74) per share for Aquantive, an 85 percent premium over its Thursday closing price of $35.87 (£18.19).

Earlier this week, ad giant WPP Group said it will spend $649m (£328m) to buy digital marketer 24/7 Real Media, a company Microsoft had recently been rumoured to be interested in. Last month, Google announced plans to acquire digital advertising company DoubleClick for $3.1bn (£1.6bn).

Aquantive, which was founded in 1997, has about 2,600 employees and is based in Seattle.

Related Links:

• Go back to category Business to read more reviews and articles.
• Go back to Software Magazine's main page.