Microsoft completes six billion dollar buy of aQuantive

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Microsoft said yesterday it completed a six-billion dollar purchase of online advertising firm aQuantive and is intent on seizing market share from rivals Yahoo and Google.

Buying aQuantive is "a significant step" toward getting more of the 40 billion dollars spent annually on Internet advertising, according to Microsoft platforms and services division president Kevin Johnson.

"The addition of aQuantive's technologies and people to the Microsoft portfolio is a core, strategic investment and step forward in our plans to become one of the top two online advertising platforms in the industry," Johnson said.

Microsoft lags behind Google and Yahoo when it comes to attracting visitors to its Internet search web pages and garnering the online advertising revenues that come with such visits.

Microsoft announced in July that it is adding another weapon to its arsenal in the battle for online advertising dollars with the purchase of Internet ad exchange AdECN Inc.

The acquisitions come as Microsoft rivals Google, Yahoo and America Online (AOL) acquire firms specializing in tailoring Internet ads to the tastes or interests of website visitors.

Google is expanding its online advertising empire to video and graphics realms with the purchase of ad-targeting powerhouse DoubleClick, an aQuantive competitor.

Time Warner subsidiary AOL is acquiring TACODA, a start-up that uses "behavioral targeting" to calculate which online ads are likely to result in money-making "clicks" by Internet users.

Yahoo bolstered its position in the Internet advertising market by taking over online advertising exchange Right Media.

Right Media, like AdECN, has an exchange that serves as an online marketplace for buying and selling Internet display advertising.