Microsoft acquired the digital advertising company aQuantive in 2007 for approximately $6.3 billion.
The acquisition was announced in May 2007 and completed in August 2007. It was Microsoft’s largest acquisition at the time and was intended to strengthen the company’s online advertising capabilities. aQuantive brought together digital marketing, advertising technology, and agency operations through businesses including Avenue A|Razorfish and Atlas.
Seattle-based aQuantive had expanded rapidly during the growth of internet advertising. Its operations covered campaign management, digital agencies, and advertising services, giving Microsoft capabilities beyond selling ads on its own websites and search engine.
Microsoft later recorded a substantial impairment charge related to the acquisition in 2012, effectively acknowledging that the business had been overvalued. The deal is sometimes confused with Google’s 2007 acquisition of DoubleClick, but aQuantive was Microsoft’s advertising purchase and had a different corporate history.