Introducing Microsoft Panic®
Lol, Microsoft says Google is "crazy" to pay $3 billion for Doubleclick (an advertising company that has an actual footprint in the marketplace), then turns around and pays $6 billion for an advertising company no one's ever even heard of: "aQuantive". No, Microsoft isn't panicking, no no no, this is all part of their Master Plan to um, ah, do something. Yeah, that's the ticket...!
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"The BBC is reporting that [a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6670227.stm"]Microsoft has agreed to buy the digital marketing firm Aquantive[/a], in what will be its biggest ever acquisition. The software giant spent almost $6 billion acquiring the agency, in its first bid to tackle the online advertising market.
The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2008, subject to regulation. Microsoft said the expensive price tag was worth it to access the complementary technology of Aquantive.
The firm will continue to operate from Seattle as part of Microsoft's online operations, and will help the software giant broaden the scope of services its MSN consumer internet unit can offer. Microsoft is the latest technology firm to pounce on the shrinking independent online advertising sector."
