AOL Offers $900 Mln for TradeDoubler

By Geoff Duncan Published January 15, 2007

AOL, Inc. famously still a unit of Time Warner, announced today it has made a $900 million cash bid to acquire TradeDoubler. If the deal goes through, the move would help make AOL a major force in the European online advertising market. TradeDoubler had sales of €115 million in 2005, and employes over 300 people in operations spanning 18 European countries.

"This investment provides a unique opportunity for both TradeDoubler and us to capitalize on the continued rapid growth in online advertising and e-commerce in Europe," said Randy Falco, AOL’s chairman and CEO, in a statement. "We believe that TradeDoubler will be complementary with our other businesses, especially with our third-party advertising network—Advertising.com."

AOL acquired Advertising.com in 2004.

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The move underscores the necessity of online advertising to AOL’s risky transition from a "walled-garden" online service based on paid subscriptions to a free Internet-based content and service provider largely supported by advertising revenue. AOL says it would like to combine Advertising.com and TradeDoubler to offer potential advertisers a broader range of marketing solutions in both Europe and the United States.

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

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