An organization that bears Yahoo’s name – even though Yahoo just holds a 35 percent stake in it – has acquired another company. Cirius Technologies, which deals in location-based advertising tech, is now part of Yahoo Japan.
Cirius’s primary business is a service called AdLocal. It acts as a location-based mobile advertising network, allowing marketers to pick where and when consumers will see an appeal to buy something, along with who (in terms of demographics) the consumers will be.
What’s more, Cirius operates in the U.S. in addition to Asia, signaling that although it only has around 30 employees, it’s not too small or unsuccessful a venture.
Serkan Toto reported, however, "Following the acquisition, Cirius will close the office in the US and move its HQ to that of Yahoo Japan’s," so it doesn’t look like Yahoo Japan is trying to expand its reach right now.
Otherwise, details are scarce. Yahoo Japan and Cirius haven’t disclosed the purchase price or how to the AdLocal tech might be integrated into other properties, for example.
SoftBank, which is a Japanese telecommunications giant, owns a 40 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, by the way.