Facebook Reportedly in Talks to Acquire Microsoft Atlas Ad Platform

By Karla Robinson
December 7, 2012

Microsoft’s ad-serving platform Atlas Solutions has been discreetly on the market for a while, but it recently captured interest from Facebook, according to people familiar with the matter.
“Sources said the social networking giant has been conducting due diligence on the media measurement platform, part of its efforts to create its own advertising network for third-party Web sites to compete with Google’s DoubleClick offering,” AllThingsD writes.
“Facebook and Microsoft are working on a deal that, if completed, would put Facebook one huge step closer to launching an ad network that could rival Google’s in size, and change the way advertising is done online forever,” adds Business Insider in a related report that details the massive potential of such a deal.
Microsoft bought the platform for $6 billion in 2007 and will be selling it for significantly less, the sources say. Facebook has been debating buying versus building its own platform. If the two companies reach an agreement, it could involve a more complex advertising network that leverages the billion email addresses, home addresses and phone numbers Facebook has on file.
“While there are some technological issues in taking over Atlas, sources said the prospect of starting from scratch was more daunting than picking up a platform that already delivers billions of ad impressions a day,” explains AllThingsD.

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