In a media move, Yahoo buys Associated Content
For about $100 million, Yahoo has acquired a company that will give it a product similar to AOL's "content farm" Seed.com.
Yahoo has acquired Associated Content, one of a few companies that has been scrambling to fill the Web's appetite for cheap, fast, diverse media content. A price tag was not formally named, but reports place it at either $90 million or slightly over $100 million.
This puts Yahoo, inching away from its roots as a search company into the same game as "content mill" Demand Media, as well as AOL and its Seed.com division--but AOL CEO Tim Armstrong will be getting a boost here, as he had been an investor in Associated Content. The 6-year-old company boasts 380,000 contributors in its media network, which has syndication deals with companies like USA Today and Thomson Reuters. Yahoo will likely keep those deals in place, as well as work to expand Associated Content beyond its current U.S.-only market.
"Combining our world-class editorial team with Associated Content's makes this a game-changer," Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said in a release. "Together, we'll create more content around what we know our users care about, and open up new and creative avenues for advertisers to engage with consumers across our network."