AllThingsD » 24/7 Real Media http://allthingsd.com Sat, 11 Feb 2012 03:23:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://allthingsd.com/theme/images/logo-rss.jpg All Things Digital http://allthingsd.com/ 144 22 Time for Your Lithium, MPAA … http://allthingsd.com/20070518/ddv20070518/ http://allthingsd.com/20070518/ddv20070518/#comments Fri, 18 May 2007 21:39:54 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20070518/ddv20070518/

[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20070518/ddv20070518/feed/ 1 Charge It to Ballmer's Centurion Card–It's Got a $6 Billion Limit http://allthingsd.com/20070518/microsoft-aquantive/ http://allthingsd.com/20070518/microsoft-aquantive/#comments Fri, 18 May 2007 13:47:04 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20070518/microsoft-aquantive/ ballmersweet.jpgLest there be any doubt that there is a bubble in the online advertising business, consider Microsoft’s planned purchase of aQuantive. After losing DoubleClick to Google, Right Media to Yahoo and 24/7 Real Media to WPP, Microsoft offered a jaw-dropping $6 billion in cash for aQuantive. That’s $66.50 a share–an 85% premium over the previous day’s selling price and about 14 times aQuantive’s 2006 revenues of $442 million. It’s also a hell of a lot more than the $3.1 billion Google paid for DoubleClick–10 times its $300 million revenue–which Don Dodge, the head of Microsoft’s emerging business team, criticized as being “way out of line” when it was first announced. Wonder how he feels about aQuantive’s $6 billion purchase price.

Regardless, Microsoft’s not sweating it a bit. “We’re happy with the price we paid. We believe it’s exactly the right company to buy, so we’re willing to pay the value we are paying today,” said company CFO Chris Liddell during a call with analysts today. “We will use the strength of our balance sheet when we think it’s necessary to drive growth going forward. This deal takes our advertising business to a new level. This allows us to take a bigger piece of that $40 billion pie that is still growing.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20070518/microsoft-aquantive/feed/ 0 Charge It to Ballmer's Centurion Card–It's Got a $6 Billion Limit http://allthingsd.com/20070518/microsoft-aquantive-2/ http://allthingsd.com/20070518/microsoft-aquantive-2/#comments Fri, 18 May 2007 13:47:04 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20070518/microsoft-aquantive/ ballmersweet.jpgLest there be any doubt that there is a bubble in the online advertising business, consider Microsoft’s planned purchase of aQuantive. After losing DoubleClick to Google, Right Media to Yahoo and 24/7 Real Media to WPP, Microsoft offered a jaw-dropping $6 billion in cash for aQuantive. That’s $66.50 a share–an 85% premium over the previous day’s selling price and about 14 times aQuantive’s 2006 revenues of $442 million. It’s also a hell of a lot more than the $3.1 billion Google paid for DoubleClick–10 times its $300 million revenue–which Don Dodge, the head of Microsoft’s emerging business team, criticized as being “way out of line” when it was first announced. Wonder how he feels about aQuantive’s $6 billion purchase price.

Regardless, Microsoft’s not sweating it a bit. “We’re happy with the price we paid. We believe it’s exactly the right company to buy, so we’re willing to pay the value we are paying today,” said company CFO Chris Liddell during a call with analysts today. “We will use the strength of our balance sheet when we think it’s necessary to drive growth going forward. This deal takes our advertising business to a new level. This allows us to take a bigger piece of that $40 billion pie that is still growing.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20070518/microsoft-aquantive-2/feed/ 0 The Frienemy of My Frienemy Is My Enemiend http://allthingsd.com/20070517/wpp-247realmedia/ http://allthingsd.com/20070517/wpp-247realmedia/#comments Thu, 17 May 2007 19:06:18 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20070517/wpp-247realmedia/ If Microsoft is planning an acquisition in the online marketing and advertising space, it better act fast, because if it waits much longer there won’t be anything left to acquire. This morning marketing conglomerate WPP agreed to pay $649 million for 24/7 Real Media, one of the last remaining independent Internet advertising specialists, in an effort to catch up with Google’s expanding online advertising business. WPP CEO “Martin Sorrell has said that he views Google as a ‘frienemy,’ ” Dave Morgan, chairman of online ad network Tacoda, told the New York Times. “He wants Google to view him as a frienemy, too. He has now given his response, which is that he’s not going to just sit and wait and see what happens. He’s going to take an aggressive position against a world where Google and Yahoo will dominate.”

The WPP-24/7 Real Media deal follows Google’s recent acquisition of DoubleClick and Yahoo’s purchase of Right Media and puts to rest rumors that Microsoft was considering offering as much as $1 billion for 24/7 Real Media. Which begs the question: Has the software giant turned its attentions to aQuantive or ValueClick? Or has it concluded that there’s no reason to acquire an ad network when it already has a killer publisher ad server?

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20070517/wpp-247realmedia/feed/ 1 Google Bought DoubleClick? Yahoo Acquired Right Media? Quick, Buy Something, Anything!! http://allthingsd.com/20070502/microsoft-247/ http://allthingsd.com/20070502/microsoft-247/#comments Wed, 02 May 2007 18:59:05 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20070502/microsoft-247/ There’s this great scene in Penelope Spheeris’s The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years where a groupie, sharing a Jacuzzi with the band Odin, realizes that her friends have all paired off with band members and left her with the ugliest of the bunch.

That scene springs to mind in light of reports that Microsoft, after losing DoubleClick to Google and Right Media to Yahoo, is mulling a $1 billion bid for online advertising outfit 24/7 Real Media (see “Takes a Convicted Monopolist to Know One? Ha, Ha, Ha. You Google Guys Are a Real Laugh Riot” and “What? You Thought Yahoo Was Going to Use a Google-Owned Ad-Serving System?”) Which is not to suggest that 24/7 isn’t a worthy acquisition target, just that Microsoft clearly hasn’t scored first choice in this little online advertising M&A dance. And, adding insult to injury here is the fact that this rumored bid for 24/7 is anything but a sure thing. WPP Group, the world’s second-largest advertising company, is also thought be a suitor for 24/7. Given its recent track record, maybe it’s time for Microsoft to move on and start looking at someone else. Like aQuantive. Or (smirk) Yahoo.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20070502/microsoft-247/feed/ 0 Digg's Community Is Revolting! And They Seem Pretty Upset About Something, Too… http://allthingsd.com/20070502/ddv200700502/ http://allthingsd.com/20070502/ddv200700502/#comments Wed, 02 May 2007 17:51:41 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20070502/ddv200700502/

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20070502/ddv200700502/feed/ 1 Digg's Community Is Revolting! And They Seem Pretty Upset About Something, Too… http://allthingsd.com/20070502/ddv200700502-2/ http://allthingsd.com/20070502/ddv200700502-2/#comments Wed, 02 May 2007 17:51:41 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20070502/ddv200700502/

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20070502/ddv200700502-2/feed/ 0