Yahoo! Buys to Extend Behavioral Targeting

Yahoo! is to acquire New York-based behavioral targeting specialist interclick for around $270m in cash.

interclick aggregates and organizes billions of data points from third party providers. Its Open Segment Manager (OSM) and Genome Platform solutions were developed to address the challenges of audience targeting, by offering an understanding of consumers through integration with data providers.

Yahoo! says the buy will enhance its targeting capabilities and optimization technologies, and give it a team experienced in selling audiences across an array of sources.

Under the terms of the agreement, Yahoo! will commence an all cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of common stock of interclick at $9.00 per share, equal to an estimated total equity value of approximately $270m.

Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo!'s EVP of the Americas region, says the acquisition will enable clients to deliver campaigns with stronger performance metrics: 'This 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'.

Web sites: www.yahoo.com and www.interclick.com .