It looks like Microsoft wasn't really missing out on getting 24/7 Real Media after all. This morning, the company announced plans to acquire digital marketing agency aQuantive for $6 billion.
AQuantive is the parent to Atlas (ad-serving tools for advertisers and publishers, as well as Atlas Search bid management tools), DRIVEpm (behaviorally targeted ad network/media broker) and Avenue A | Razorfish (digital marketing agency, including search).
Microsoft is touting this as a commitment to become a "major player in online advertising."
The acquisition puts Microsoft in a similar position as Google with its DoubleClick acquisition. DoubleClick's Performics and DART Search; and aQuantive's Avenue A | Razorfish and Atlas Search create potential conflicts of interest. Google has said it is not planning on spinning off Performics, and on a conference call this morning, the company said it had no plans to spin off Avenue A | Razorfish.
You can find all the coverage on Techmeme.
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