June 24, 2004

America Online, a unit of Time Warner, said it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Advertising.com, a provider of interactive marketing services, in a $435 million all-cash transaction.

Advertising.com operates the industry's largest third-party advertising network, reaching more than 110 million visitors monthly and over 70 percent of all U.S. Web visitors, according to comScore Media Metrix in May 2004.

The company's revenues increased almost 80 percent in 2003 to reach $132 million, and 2003 income from operations was $12.1 million.

Advertising.com will remain in Baltimore and will be managed as a separate company reporting to Michael J. Kelly, president of AOL Media Networks. The company has more than 300 employees and operates principally in the United States, with operations in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

America Online expects to close the transaction in late summer 2004, subject to regulatory approvals.

Advertising.com works with more than 800 advertisers to optimize the performance of their online marketing campaigns through proprietary ad delivery and optimization tools.

Advertising.com also works with more than 1,500 online publishers by providing a large and consistent customer base for their available advertising inventory and by licensing its ad serving technologies.

Jonathan Miller, chairman and CEO of America Online, said, "Advertising.com has built a profitable, scalable and highly attractive business. This acquisition is a strategic move that will bolster AOL's advertising business, building on the strides made in the past year."

Source: Forbes.com

        

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