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Filed under: Business, Microsoft

Microsoft now serving ads on shopping carts

Computer in cartIf you're the type of person that detests video screens placed in the grocery checkout line: those incessant, unavoidable peddlers; then you might want to start avoiding the grocery store altogether.

In a new partnership with MediaCart Holdings and Wakefern Food, Microsoft has signed up to deliver personalized ads to shoppers through computerized shopping carts. Customers can scan their "customer loyalty cards" at the machine and receive ads and electronic coupons according to their buying history (you did know those cards recorded your purchase history, didn't you?).

Microsoft's part is to serve video ads to the computers through their Atlas technology, which they recently acquired with the $6 billion purchase of aQuantive last year.

In addition to ads, customers will be able to view the specials on the aisles in which they're shopping, and total all the items in their shopping cart prior to checking out. Do they not trust people to find the specials tags or perform simple addition? Maybe they've taken a deep look at our educational system...

MediaCart is expected to begin customer trials in ShopRite stores in the second half of this year.

[Via Yahoo! News]

Filed under: Internet, News, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, AOL

Microsoft buys another ad network

AdECNIn the ongoing struggle for online advertising dominance, Microsoft has picked up AdECN, an online advertising exchange. No word on how much Gates and company paid for the company, but the move comes just two months after Microsoft paid $6 billion for advertiser aQuantive.

So let's see if we can keep this straight now:
Are we leaving anybody out? And doesn't it give you a warm fuzzy feeling to be reminded periodically that the biggest players in online media companies are more interested in selling you things than providing useful services.

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft

Microsoft spends twice as much as Google to purchase ad company

aQuantiveYou know how Google beat out Microsoft with a $3.1 billion bid for online advertising company DoubleClick? Yeah, Microsoft don't need to stinkin' DoubleClick. They went out and spent $6 billion this morning on their own advertising company (that you've never heard of), aQuantive.

According to Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch, aQuantive's revenues for 2006 were $442 million, and the company's net income was about $54 million, which leads to the obvious question: couldn't Microsoft have found a cheaper advertising company to acquire? Sure, everybody wants to pick up an advertising company these days so it can be integrated into your search engine/online portal's business model. But $6 billion is a lot of dough.

In fact, Microsoft paid about $66 per share, which was twice the trading price. Odds are there was a bidding war and the company didn't want to lose another one of those.

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