According to Associated Press – Microsoft plans to buy Rapt Inc., plugging a hole in its suite of tools for Web publishers and advertisers, the software giant said Friday.
Even as it continues to pursue the big Yahoo merger, the company keeps picking up small startups to fill out its advertising software business, says TechCrunch.
Several weeks ago it was micro-segmenting software startup Yadata . Today it is Rapt Rapt, with 85 employees, which helps Microsoft fill out its technology checklist.
Microsoft plans to add Rapt’s programs to the Web publisher tools it gained when it acquired aQuantive last year for $6 billion.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker has bought several companies to fill out its digital ad offerings, including AdECN, a stock market-like exchange where networks representing Web sites buy and sell ad space, and Massive, which inserts ads into video games.
Display advertising hasn’t gotten as much attention as search ads, thanks to Google’s unparalleled ability to turn search queries into billions of dollars in revenue.
But that may be about to change with Google’s first big push this week into display advertising as it closed its $3.1 billion acquisition of online ad services company DoubleClick.
