AOL is the latest big name search engine to throw its hat into the ring in terms of online advertising acquisitions as it announced plans to buy out Tacoda.Following the lead of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!, AOL finds itself behind these three firms in terms of market share and the purchase of the advertising business can be seen as a statement of intent to catch up with these internet giants.
Business Week believes that the bid will be worth in the region of $275 million (138 million pounds), although the actual terms of the acquisition have not yet been issued.
Mike Kelly, president of AOL Media Networks, the division in charge of AOL's advertising business, told Business Week: "This is really about expanded reach, great publisher tools, and our belief that it will help us grow."
Google began the trend in April when it announced that it was to purchase advertisement performance tracker DoubleClick for a sum of £3.1 billion (1.5 billion pounds).
Meanwhile, Yahoo! purchased 80 per cent of online advertising exchange firm Right Media for $680 million (340 million pounds) and Microsoft is in the process of buying aQuantive for $6 billion (3 billion pounds).
This purchase is not the first linked to online advertising for AOL and the company bought Third Screen Media, a mobile advertising company, and online advertising-serving firm AdTech earlier this year.
