Yahoo to acquire Interclick for $270 mln

Yahoo, which has been rumored to sell all or part of its business, announced on Tuesday that it is buying data-driven advertising network Interclick for around 270 million U.S. dollars. Interclick is a technology company providing data targeted solutions and optimization technologies. "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," said Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo's executive vice president for the Americas region. Some analysts said Interclick's technology could help Yahoo to grow its display advertising market share as Google and Facebook have gained on or surpassed the company in the area. But the acquisition also raised questions considering Yahoo's financial situation after it reported last month its revenue in the last quarter decreased by 5 percent year-over-year. The company is also in a chief executive officer (CEO) search following the firing of former CEO Carol Bartz in September and amidst reports of a possible takeover. Although in a financial struggle, Yahoo still has around 700 million unique monthly visitors and its news division is the biggest online news site with around 81.2 million unique visitors in August. Tech giants like Google and Microsoft are reported to be considering providing finance for the acquisition of Yahoo by another company or a group of companies. In a report on Monday, Bloomberg News reported that Yahoo is leaning toward selling Asian assets and redistributing the proceeds to shareholders, rather than selling itself to a group of buyers. Yahoo's shares fell more than 5 percent after the possibility was reported.