After weeks of rumours, Facebook has bought Atlas from Microsoft for an undisclosed sum, as the social network looks to boost its ad targeting capabilities.
The move ends weeks of speculation about the acquisition, and gives Facebook the technology to help determine which ads should be displayed to which Internet surfers.
Atlas had been part of Microsoft’s disastrous purchase of aQuantive. The software giant paid about $6.3 billion for the platform in 2007.
Last year, it took a writedown of $6.2 billion for that acquisition. Some have speculated that Facebook purchased Atlas for about $100 million.
“Many marketers that advertise on Facebook today use Atlas, and Atlas has been an approved partner for measurement since June,” Facebook said in announcing the acquisition. “Today’s agreement brings us closer together in a way that benefits both Facebook and Atlas’ agency and marketer clients.”
Atlas is based in Seattle and will continue to operate from there. Its clients shouldn’t see changes to the service, and Facebook said it plans to invest in the Atlas platform.
Analysis
Commenting on the aquisition, Julie Langley from Results International said: “Microsoft had been trying to sell Atlas for some time but other potential buyers came to the conclusion, we think, that the technology has been under invested in and has been left behind in terms of its tracking and attribution capabilities. But that probably doesn’t matter to Facebook. ”
“The purchase price hasn’t been reported but was rumoured to be around the $100 million mark – if that’s the case, its small change if it can make even a small impact on Facebook’s display advertising revenue. And to put $100 million into context Facebook had just shy of $10 billion of cash at end December.”
