AOL Enters into Agreement to Acquire Quigo, a Leading Site and Content-Targeted Advertising Firm

NEW YORK & DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AOL today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Quigo, a leading site and content-targeted advertising company based in New York. When completed, the acquisition will let AOL offer contextual advertising that matches ads to the contents of a Web page. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 2000, Quigo provides innovative, performance marketing solutions for advertisers and premium publishers. The company has more than 500 premium publisher relationships, including a recently finalized deal with Time, Inc., and has a broad network of roughly 3,000 advertisers. Quigo’s AdSonar technology lets advertisers purchase ads on Websites based on specific pages, sections, topics or keywords. Quigo offers many types of advertising and a variety of pricing options including text, display and video ads bought on a cost-per-click, cost per impression, or cost per time basis. In addition, it operates FeedPoint, a search engine marketing business that helps local and retail advertisers efficiently manage their marketing relationships with search engines and comparison shopping platforms.

Quigo will be the fourth advertising company AOL has acquired in 2007. Earlier in the year, AOL acquired Third Screen Media, a leader in mobile advertising, ADTECH AG, a leading ad serving platform based in Frankfurt, Germany, and TACODA, a leading behavioral targeting company. In addition, in September, AOL announced the formation of Platform-A, the world’s largest digital display advertising platform, which reaches over 91% of the online audience.

“With Quigo, we are putting the final pieces of Platform-A in place. We will be able to offer advertisers and publishers the most advanced set of tools, including contextual and behavioral targeting, superior analytics, and access to the largest display network in the marketplace.” said Randy Falco, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AOL. “And by offering advertisers the ability to target ads based on the content of Web pages using Quigo’s AdSonar technology, we will be able to maximize the value of publishers’ ad inventory.”

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Quigo, and we are delighted at the opportunity to work with AOL and Platform-A to extend the reach of our premium advertising solutions,” said Mike Yavonditte, Quigo's Chief Executive Officer. “AOL has shown its commitment to becoming the world’s leading display advertising network, and we’re delighted to have the chance to be part of this effort.”

Quigo employs approximately 100 people and will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL within the Platform-A organization. Quigo will allow AOL to expand the use of contextual advertising across AOL’s own Web pages, as well as its third-party networks.

About Quigo

Quigo – http://www.quigo.com – recently named Company of the Year by AlwaysOn Media – provides innovative performance marketing solutions for advertisers and premium publishers. Quigo’s AdSonar is a leading network of top-tier websites offering a broad range of advertising solutions. AdSonar’s content-targeted sponsored links are distributed to many of the web’s most recognized sites including CNNMoney.com, TIME.com, People.com, ESPN.com, Forbes.com, TheStreet.com, FoxNews.com, CareerBuilder.com, LonelyPlanet.com and on over 200 local, regional and national newspaper and television sites including those of ABC, Tribune Interactive, Fox, The Hearst Company, The McClatchy Company, Morris Communications, Media News Group, New York Daily News, New York Post, Scripps, Stephens Media, USA Today, and others. AdSonar offers advertisers multiple targeting options for their campaigns; including national and local targeting by vertical category, site, individual page, section, topic, and/or keyword. Quigo’s suite of search marketing solutions, including its flagship FeedPoint product, offers scalable, technology-driven services to help leading e-commerce and directory sites drive traffic, acquire new customers, and maximize revenue and profits. Founded in 2000, Quigo’s primary venture backers include Highland Capital, Steamboat Ventures (the venture capital arm of The Walt Disney Company), and Institutional Venture Partners.

About AOL

AOL® is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services, runs one of the largest Internet access businesses in the U.S., and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX), AOL LLC is based in Dulles, Virginia. AOL and its subsidiaries also have operations in Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at http://www.aol.com.