Google To Buy Display Advertising Startup Teracent
- By Scott Morrison Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)-Google Inc. (GOOG) said Monday it agreed to acquire display advertising startup Teracent Corp., which has developed machine learning algorithms designed to deliver optimized Web ads in real time. The acquisition is Google's latest move to bolster its presence in the online display ad market, a business dominated by rival Yahoo Inc. (YHOO). It wasn't immediately clear how the deal will impact Teracent's partnership with Yahoo to deliver mobile ads. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The algorithms developed by San Mateo, Calif.-based Teracent allow advertisers, agencies and ad networks to pick and choose the format of display ads in real time, such as changing an ad's images, products, messages or colors. The formats vary based on the user's geographic location, language, the content of the Web site, or the past performance of different ad formats. The technology can be applied across image, rich media and video ads. Google, which makes almost all of its revenue from text ads that appear next to search results, indicated its interest in display ads by acquiring DoubleClick for $3.1 billion last year. Google shares were up 2.1% at $582.04 in recent trading. -By Scott Morrison; Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-6118; scott.morrison@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=zwt0mZzjDDJIeNODwDY8mQ%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
