Microsoft’s largest acquisition deal so far is finally sealed. The acquisition deal which started as early as May of this year was put into a close with Microsoft getting the advertising company for a whopping cost of $6 billion. Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s Platforms & Services Division (PSD) issued the following statement with regards to the finalization of the deal:
Today we take a significant step forward in our ability to capture share of the $40 billion online ad opportunity and the larger $600 billion ad market, which is rapidly shifting to the world of online and IP-served platforms, including TV and gaming,
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.
To leverage the acqusition of the advertising company and put some order in the company’s online advertising program, Microsoft also established a new advertisers and publishers solutions group (APS). The Microsoft APS will be headed by aQuantive’s CEO, Brian McAndrews and will oversee all of Microsoft’s monetization schemes. Likewise, the APS will also manage Microsoft’s various ad platforms.
Hopefully, the acquisition of aQuantive would give Microsoft a step further to reaching the status of Google and Yahoo in terms of revenue generating advertising programs. This is one area where Microsoft really lags behind its toughest rival.
And with the price paid for the acquisition of the ad company, Microsoft really needs to step up its ad program to gain maximum ROI from the acquisition of aQuantive.
