Google is in discussions to buy Admeld, a display advertising company, for around $400 million, according to three people briefed on the negotiations.
The acquisition would be Google’s latest push into the display advertising business, for ads with images and video, which it says is one of its next big businesses beyond the text search ads that make up most of its revenue today.
Spokesmen for Google and Admeld declined to comment.
TechCrunch first reported that Google acquired Admeld, but the people briefed on the negotiations said the deal has not been completed and could still fall apart. An acquisition of that size by Google would also most likely attract regulatory scrutiny before it could close.
Admeld helps publishers sell display ads in real time. When Internet users arrive at a publisher’s Web site, in a split second advertisers can bid to buy ad space from the publisher to show to that user. Publishers do this using Google’s DoubleClick Ad Exchange, Yahoo’s Right Media, OpenX and other ad exchanges.
Publishers can choose from dozens of ad networks, and companies like Admeld help them navigate that maze. This corner of the ad business has received significant investment in the last two years, and Admeld competitors include PubMatic and Rubicon Project.
Last year, Google bought Invite Media, a company that helps advertisers and agencies buy ads in real time. The purchase of Admeld would help the publishers on the other side of the deal.
Admeld was started in 2007 and is run by Michael Barrett, former chief revenue officer for Fox Interactive Media. It has raised $30 million in venture capital from Foundry Group, Spark Capital, Norwest Venture Partners and Time Warner Investments.
On Thursday, Neal Mohan, Google’s vice president of display advertising, spoke about how important the display ad business was to Google in a speech at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s conference. He predicted that display advertising would become a $200 billion industry and that people would see fewer display ads on Web sites but they would be more relevant and interactive, with video or in-ad games.