Yahoo Buys Behavioral Ad Firm BlueLithium

Yahoo has inked a deal to buy behavioral ad firm BlueLithium, helping the company's online ad efforts compete with Google and Microsoft.

Internet giant Yahoo announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire behavioral advertising firm BlueLithium for about $300 million in cash. BlueLithium has been operating for three years, and currently runs the fifth largest online advertising network in the United States (and the second largest in the UK), with about 1,000 clients. BlueLithium uses tracking technology to monitor consumers as they move from site to site, building a profile of their interests and behaviors in an effort to deliver advertising a particular user might find relevant.

BlueLithium will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yahoo. Yahoo plans to add BlueLithium’s client base to its own advertising network, which will give those clients access to Yahoo’s popular news, travel, sports, and other content offerings, as well as the Yahoo Publisher Network affiliate network and Right Media Exchange. Yahoo also plans to leverage BlueLithium’s tools to manage supply and demand across their advertising networks.

"BlueLithium’s products, technology and team will be an integral part of our drive to build the industry’s leading advertising and publishing network," said Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, in a statement. "This acquisition will extend our ability to deliver powerful data analytics, advanced targeting and innovative media buying strategies to our customers, who are increasingly looking for these insights."

The purchase is just the latest in major buy-ups by major Internet companies: AOL recently moved to purchase online ad firm Tacoda, and Microsoft just closed its $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive.