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Thursday, December 6, 2012

Rumors: Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) And Microsoft (MSFT) Working On A Deal


Microsoft Corporation(NASDAQ:MSFT) and Facebook Inc(NASDAQ:FB) are reportedly working on an agreement that is likely to place the social networking company one step closer to releasing an ad network capable of competing with anything as huge as Google and change the very definition of online advertising.

As per a number of industry sources, Facebook has been negotiating with Microsoft to purchase Atlas Solutions, an ad-serving product that Microsoft had bought along with aQuantive in lieu of $6 billion in the year 2007.

Microsoft has been making attempts to sell Atlas since years. A source reveals that a company was interested in purchasing it. Recently, Microsoft is believed to have ended negotiations with the company while moving forward with a deal with Facebook.

Since that time, employees of Microsoft and Facebook have contacted other ad tech companies to do research for the agreement. A source present in one of the companies has briefed BusinessInsider on details of the discussions.

Even though, ownership of Atlas was the primary reason why Microsoft had purchased aQuantive for $6 billion in the year 2007, it appears that Facebook will have to shell a much lower price. A source reveals that before Facebook’s negotiations with Microsoft, the highest bid for Atlas was $30 million.

Press officials for Microsoft and Facebook have refused to comment on this story.

Purchasing or building ad serving technology is considered to be one of the last tasks that Facebook requires to complete before launching an ad network for third-party web sites.

An industry source says that the social networking company needs infrastructure since they are dependant on many intermediaries.

A Facebook-powered Atlas-supported ad network is considered to be tremendous since Facebook happens to be the only company in the world that owns a billion email addresses, phone numbers and home addresses. This feature lets Facebook to accomplish something that no other website can do.

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