When Google acquired DoubleClick, everybody shouted and accused Google that what Google did was a monopolistic one. However, Yahoo! understand the game that Google play, so yesterday, it was reported by the NYtimes that Yahoo! paid $680 million of the remaining 80% of the Right Media.

Why acquire only 80% of the company?

It’s because 20% of it was already acquired by Yahoo! last October.

Why should Yahoo! acquire this company?

“The acquisition, to us, is a key step toward executing our long-term vision to build the leading advertising and publisher ecosystem both on and off the Yahoo network,” Terry S. Semel, Yahoo’s chief executive, said in an interview. The deal is to be announced today and is expected to close in three months. (NYTimes)

What’s with the Right Media, why Yahoo! is very much interested with it?

Right Media, a four-year-old company, runs an exchange in which advertisers and publishers buy and sell online ad placements in real time through an auction system.  (NYtimes)

Right Media connects the various online ad players (advertisers, publishers, ad networks) in an open and efficient way. Its marketplace provides a world where non-guaranteed inventory is bought and sold without barriers — an entirely free flow of information. (Yodel)

What does this acquisition mean?

 It’s another escalation of the war for online advertising, particularly between Yahoo! and Google, … (Rob Hof)

The acquisition is  a right move towards competing with  Google advertising campaign which recently acquired Double Click (Arnold Zafra)

This is a defensive move that gets Yahoo in the exchange race and they want to be in it if Google is serious about building one. (Clickety Clack)

What does this mean for the Direct Media Exchange product?

We can’t start working with the team at Yahoo until the SEC approves everything, but we’ll be working on making Direct Media Exchange better in the near term as well as working with Yahoo to build new and improved publisher solutions. (Conversion Rater)

What can Right Media do to Yahoo! with this acquisition?

This acquisition will help Yahoo! build on its leadership in online advertising. We’ve been moving aggressively over a number of months to enhance our leading ad tools and capabilities, through initiatives like Panama and major partnerships like those with eBay and a consortium of more than 260 newspapers. Right Media builds on those efforts by helping us not only realize more value from our inventory, but also continue to transform how advertisers and publishers connect to their audiences. (Yodel)

And my question now is: What should Microsoft and At&T do to really compete with Yahoo! and Google? Will they remain hiding behind their petition against Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick?