Yahoo to Buy Right Media for $680 Million

In direct response to Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick, Yahoo announces plans to buy online ad exchange Right Media.

Yahoo plans to acquire Right Media, a privately held company that runs an advertising marketplace, in part to bolster its position as a seller and broker of ads outside its own sprawling network of Web sites, the companies’ chief executives said yesterday.

Yahoo, which bought a 20 percent stake in Right Media last October, will pay approximately $680 million, in equal parts of stock and cash, for the remaining interest in the company, which is based in New York.

Michael Arrington points out the parallel with Google’s move: while AdSense and YPN both work mostly in the Long Tail of publishing, DoubleClick and Right Media concentrate on the Short Head.

Online advertising is hotter than Hell, for both publishers and networks, across all fundamental data types on all modes of transfer. Even personal experience tells me there’s no better time to enter the business than now.