Microsoft acquires Rapt, an Ad Management Company

It was only yesterday that Google announced its very own ad management solution, Google Ad Manager. But Microsoft has gone ahead and bought Rapt, which is a leading provider of advertising yield management solutions for digital media publishers. The acquisition was announced in a press release given out by Rapt.

As part of the deal, Rapt’s information and advisory services offerings would be used along with Microsoft’s Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group- Atlas Publisher Suite. With the inclusion of Rapt, the Atlas Publisher Suite allows Microsoft to provide its customers with integrated asset and inventory management, forecasting, yield and sales management, and ad delivery and operations.

The senior vice president of the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft, Brian McAndrews talking about the acquisition said, “Online publishers have a complex array of needs, and they require more attentive and sophisticated partners to help them solve these challenges. With this acquisition, we are uniquely positioned to help publishers succeed on all fronts. Our end-to-end solution will include workflow tools, ad package and delivery, turnkey distribution, content partnerships, and yield management and optimization.”

"The opportunity to join forces with Microsoft and to see our technology flourish inside a much larger platform was too compelling to pass up," Rapt's CEO and founder, Tom Chavez, said of the acquisition. "We're confident that, with Microsoft, we can continually improve publisher results and aggressively grow our combined client base that already includes over half of the top 25 U.S. publishers."

It seems this week has been a 'week of buying small startups.' First it was Google-Doubleclick acquisition, then came the $300 million AOL buy-up of Quigo and then Microsoft bought Yadata before Rapt. With so many ad- related start-ups joining hands with the bigger guns certainly it would be the rule of the mighty. What do you think?

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