The headlines, as they relate to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), have been mostly related to landing (Nasdaq: YHOO) in its fold, but that hasn't stopped the company from moving ahead with its online ad strategy. To that end, they announced Friday that they've acquired Rapt, a company that sells online tools for Web media firms.
Rapt's tools are developed to project advertising demand on the Internet, and from there put together the best place to put ads, along with the best pricing. That helps online media companies generate more ad revenue.
“Online publishers have a complex array of needs, and they require more attentive and sophisticated partners to help them solve these challenges,” said Brian McAndrews, Microsoft’s senior vp, advertiser and publisher solutions group. “With this acquisition, we are uniquely positioned to help publishers succeed on all fronts.”
Microsoft will incorporate Rapt's tools into its Atlas Publisher Suite, which came with the acquisition of aQuantive last year.
While this will help Microsoft, it makes me wonder if it was also a leverage move to give Yahoo more incentive into accepting their offer. These tools would definitely compete directly with Yahoo, and could cut into their online ad profits, which have been slowing in growth over the last year.
Reports are that Yahoo and Microsoft execs met this week to talk about the $44.6 billion bid by Microsoft to purchase them.
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