Google bought DoubleClick; now Yahoo is buying Right Media.

In the latest sign that small Internet advertising firms have become hot properties, Yahoo said yesterday that it plans to acquire online advertising company Right Media for about $680 million, a move to stake out its online turf against competitors such as Google.

Privately held Right Media, of New York, operates an online auction system that allows advertisers to bid on space on a Web site, the company said.

Yahoo, of Sunnyvale, Calif., acquired 20 percent of Right Media in October 2006 for $45 million.

Some technology analysts said the move is a response to Google's recent purchase of online ad firm DoubleClick for $3.1 billion after engaging in a bidding war with Microsoft and AOL.

"Clearly, this is an attempt to compete with what Google's been doing," said Jennifer Simpson, an analyst with Yankee Group. "Yahoo did grow last year, but Google has really been stepping away from the competition. . . . There will be a certain attention paid to Microsoft to see what they do next in this advertising chess game."

But will it be enough, given Google's control of a quarter of the internet advertising market? Or is Google the 800 pound gorilla in the room, which no one can overcome? Time will tell, I suppose.

Posted by: Greg at 09:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 231 words, total size 2 kb.