Microsoft to Gain More Advertising

I read the article: Microsoft to buy aQuantive for US$6 billion from http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php/id;1047992339. (It's an austrailian site, so they mention "US$" all the time). Anyway, the article discusses how Microsoft bid for this company called aQuantive, which is a digital marketing services agency. Microsoft is trying to increase the amount of technology and employees that they have available for internet advertising. They are trying to compete with Google, which they actually had a bidding war for a similar company, DoubleClick, about a month ago, but Google won the battle. But, with Microsoft's pending aquirement of aQuantive, it looks like Google may lose the war.
Microsoft intends to use this new company to set up advertising through the different online networks, including Windows Live and Xbox Live. There's also a rumor on the streets that Microsoft might have an interest in buying up Yahoo. This is a pretty importnat deal that Microsoft is making (the biggest one to day, as far as significance, not necessarily monetary value). Microsoft will be able to put display advertising on any site and will enhance the digital advertising aspect for the company.

I found this article very interesting. It basically sums up Microsoft being part of an oligopoly, and is really a good example to represent oligopoly by. In this article alone, we see that there is still sum lenience in entering and exiting market (Yahoo possibly being sold), there is variation in products (google is different than Microsoft), advertising is a main component of the oligopoly world, and oligopoly firms like to try and buy out competitors, (Yahoo), or in this case, additions to their firms (DoubleClick and aQuantive). I think it is interesting that there is som much money being spent on internet advertising, and it's good to observe all the different modes of influence (I forgot all about Microsoft and the affiliation with XBox Live), through technology. It is crucial for thiese companies to invest in programs to enhance their chances. This article evens says that Google and Microsoft had to compete and get firms like this or one of them wouldn't survive. Dog eat dog world out there in the oligopolic world....the saga continues.