Media reports are indicating that social media site Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and software maker Microsoft are in the final stage of talks regarding the sale of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) and its advertising platform. Atlas was part of Microsoft’s 2007 USD $6 billion purchase of aQuantive but has been a up for sale on the chopping block for years now, garnering interest to the tune of as much as $30 million, but deals never came to be.
Facebook has already been using the Atlas advertising management solution on their social media site since June of this year. The platform allows ad buyers to track creative placement and their performance on the site.
Advertising revenues are the primary source of income for Facebook’s social media and search sites accounting for approximately 86% of over $1.2 billion quarterly revenues just from ads posted on its own website.
For Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) the deal would become an additional source of revenue and will raise competition with the likes of Google, Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) DoubleClick advertising network.
This acquisition would likely boost confidence of investors whose chief concern with Facebook has historically been how the social media property would capitalize on its revenue model.
As of Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) initial public offering in May of this year the site had some 900 million users around the world and approximately 500 million of them were deemed to be daily users, logging onto the site and thus generating daily advertising revenue for the site.
Google and Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) have both looked on watching Facebook’s phenomenal growth rate in the realm of online advertising and the readership that supports it. The influence and potential competition that Facebook is positioning itself for online advertising revenue practice can cause discomfort as it makes ever larger cuts into their own bottom lines.
Stock Price Performance: (30-Day) Between November 7, 2012 and December 6, 2012, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock price increased USD $7.24 (+35.36%) from USD $20.47 to $27.71. December 6, 2012 close: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) USD $26.73, +0.06 (0.21%). Google, Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) USD $691.13, +3.31 (0.48%). Yahoo, Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) USD $19.20, +0.31 (1.64%)
