The difficulties Google encountered while trying to acquire AdMob apparently didn’t cause the company to give up on a related purchase. A new report indicates that Google has bought Invite Media, which deals in advertising tech, for perhaps $70 million.
Invite Media’s specialty is display media, and as its homepage makes clear, it offers a universal buying platform with ties to all sorts of organizations. Another item of interest is the second mention of Yahoo in the "News" column.
Then here’s a third curious fact: Invite Media is quite quiet for an advertising company, considering the last corporate tweet was made on May 11th and the only official blog post dates from November 26th. It’s anybody’s guess whether the firm’s been tied up in negotiations, working on top-secret projects, or is just low on writers.
Anyway, Peter Kafka reported earlier today, "Google has indeed bought ad technology startup Invite Media, I’ve confirmed with multiple sources."
As for what Google will do with the property, Kafka continued, "People familiar with the transaction say Google’s plan is to leave Invite running as a stand-alone unit, which will work at arm’s length with exchanges like Google’s AdX as well as competitors like OpenX, Yahoo’s Right Media and Microsoft’s AdECN."
Integration between Invite Media and DoubleClick is only supposed to occur over a significant period of time.