Yahoo! to buy net ad company, Right Media

Stuart Corner
Monday, 30 April 2007 12:02

IT Industry - Strategy

Yahoo! is to acquire Right Media, creator of the Right Media Exchange. It says the move is part of its long-term strategy to transform how online advertisers connect to and engage with their customers.

The move follows the announcement last month by arch rival Google of plans to acquire Internet advertising services company, DoubleClick: a move which has generated strong opposition from many companies, from Microsoft downwards.

Yahoo! took a 20 percent stake in Right Media in October 2006 and will acquire the remaining 80 percent for approximately $US680 in cash and stock in approximately equal parts.

"The acquisition of Right Media will further Yahoo!'s goal to create the industry's most open, accessible and vibrant advertising marketplace, which will help democratise the buying and selling of digitally enabled advertising," said Terry Semel, chairman and CEO of Yahoo!. "This acquisition is an important step in our long-term vision to build the industry's leading advertising and publisher ecosystem."

The Right Media Exchange is claimed to be the industry's largest emerging online advertising exchange. Yahoo! says that, as publishers increasingly turn to exchanges to monetise their ad inventory, the acquisition will help it to take a leading position in this segment of the online ad market.

Yahoo! says that
Right Media's open exchange "will facilitate a frictionless model where buyers have equal opportunity to engage with the largest, most valuable audiences and to extract the maximum value from their campaigns and[where] sellers can access an enormous pool of advertisers and foster competition for their inventory to maximise revenue."

Yahoo! plans increase its participation in the Right Media Exchange both as a buyer and seller to help increase liquidity in the exchange while empowering publishers and advertisers to generate more value for themselves within this vibrant marketplace.