$6 billion is a lot to pay for any company, particularly when it’s about five times as much as you’ve ever paid for any previous acquisition; it’s even more impressive when you consider it’s a cash deal. But those are the table stakes to get into (or stay in) the online advertising business these days; and after Google agreed to pay $3.1 billion for DoubleClick, it doesn’t seem so bad. But there are a lot of very happy aQuantive shareholders right now (me not amongst them, sadly):
After all the furore around DoubleClick, this is a great piece of news for us. People know, of course, that we were in the market for DoubleClick when Google bought them, and of course I can’t elaborate (mainly because I don’t know) why we didn’t get that deal; but I think we’ve actually ended up with the better fit for our needs. aQuantive has a full-fledged media network and one of the world’s largest interactive agencies in its portfolio, in addition to its ad buying & selling technologies. Microsoft will really benefit from the wealth of experience that aQuantive’s people will bring. Plus (and this is by a mile the most important aspect of the news for me), Microsoft gets a downtown Seattle office out of the deal, which is a godsend for those of us who hate the 520 with a passion bordering on the psychotic.
[I would have posted about this on Friday, but I was too busy drinking Margaritas]