So says MediaPost after a couple of days of rumors. The rumored hypothetical purchase price is $2 billion. Forget about that for a moment, the acquisition would make Microsoft much more credible in the minds of advertisers than it has been to date and would also give a boost to AdCenter by association. In other words, brand and other marketers reluctant to commit to AdCenter might be more inclined to do so if they’re already working within the company via DoubleClick and can be cross-sold.
Certainly it would make Microsoft much more interesting to advertisers overall — brand advertisers in particular.
Yahoo! owns a piece of RightMedia. AOL owns Advertising.com. And in that larger context the pressure would build for Google to build or buy a similar network if/when Microsoft buys DoubleClick.
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ClickZ explores the potential acquisition and its competitive implications (esp. for AOL) in some detail.
Screenwerk 
March 30, 2007 at 1:39 pm
[…] MSFT Appears Ready to Buy DoubleClick « Screenwerk (tags: digital+advertising ad+serving microsoft msn) […]
April 16, 2007 at 11:07 am
[…] acquisition of DoubleClick, filling a gaping hole in its offering: display advertising. Microsoft had been rumored to be the potential acquirer first until the WSJ reported that Google was involved in the bidding. It does appear now, as I […]