Google Bought DoubleClick? Yahoo Acquired Right Media? Quick, Buy Something, Anything!!
by John Paczkowski
Posted on May 2, 2007 at 11:59 AM PT
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.
