Yahoo! snaps up interclick

Nov 04, 2011

The search industry's perennial underdog, Yahoo!, has acquired advertising and tech software company interclick for $270 million (£168 million).

interclick's flagship tools - Open Segment Manager and Genome Platform - are designed to help users integrate ad campaigns and use behavioural targeting - software that will enable Yahoo! to "dramatically improve data targeted solutions and optimised returns for advertisers ". 

EVP Ross Levinsohn said: "The investment underscores our focus on enhancing the performance of both our guaranteed and non-guaranteed display business across Yahoo! and our partner sites and, combined with Yahoo!'s reach and advertising leadership, will deliver a powerful solution for marketers. 

"Interclick's innovative platform will allow Yahoo! to expand its targeting and data capabilities to deliver campaigns with stronger performance metrics."

The acquisition comes at an interesting time for the company, as Yahoo continues to search for a replacement for fallen CEO Carol Bartz, and the company has been the subject of a number of rumours surrounding its own possible sale.

Still, integrating interclick's software into the Yahoo! platform may help it gain an edge on competitors like Google. 

Founder and CEO of interclick Michael Katz said: "Having worked closely with Yahoo for the past few years, we have a deep appreciation of the quality of the inventory that Yahoo brings to market.

"The combination of Yahoo's premium data and inventory with our platforms will create tremendous value clients. I would personally like to thank our team, our clients and our board, who helped to make interclick the success it has become." 

Co-chairman Michael Brauser echoed Katz, saying: "We believe that this is a great outcome for our shareholders, Michael Katz and his team have done a tremendous job over the past few years and I'm proud to have helped make this outcome a reality." 

Source:  bigmouthmedia.com