Microsoft Acquired Raft

As long as Yahoo stands still, it seems Microsoft continues its "shopping spree" undisturbed. Last "victim" of the Redmond giant is Rapt, a company from San Francisco that was "the industry standard in advertising yield management solutions", as their website says. The most interesting part is that Rapt's clients included CNET Networks, Dow Jones & Company, Expedia, Fox Interactive Media, Microsoft, MTV Networks, and others, but most important of all is - guess who? - Yahoo!


With this acquisition, Microsoft got in control of the Price Director, Inventory Manager, and Business Advisor, three products designed to help online publishers improve pricing and provisioning of their online ads. According to Microsoft's Brian McAndrews, this purchase will help them build "an end-to-end solution" for Web media publishers, as they would add Rapt's offerings to their Atlas Publisher Suite, a part of Microsoft Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group.

For now, the financial details of the deal haven't been disclosed, and they'll probably remain that way, but I have to ask myself - is this taking Microsoft one step closer to fulfilling its dream of taking over Yahoo, or am I simply off-topic when I think about such a thing?