Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2010/10/06/yahoo_buys_dapper/

Yahoo! pulls! on! Dapper! suit! to! chase! Google! display! ad! tail!

Bartz knots purple bow tie

By Kelly Fiveash

Posted in On-Prem, 6th October 2010 10:48 GMT

Yahoo! bought display advertising outfit Dapper yesterday for an undisclosed sum.

The web portal, which is headed up by Carol Bartz, perhaps responded to Google’s buyout of Invite Media in June by acquiring a display ad company of its own.

After all, the company’s Right Media ad house has recently seen its market share fall.

As we reported a few months back, The Media Innovation Group rightly (as it turns out) predicted that Bartz would scoop up a display ad firm, following Google’s takeover of Invite Media.

WPP-owned MIG said in confidential papers, seen by The Register, that it was concerned about Mountain View’s acquisition and worried that Google’s increased dominance in the display ad game could lead to a “conflict of interest”.

Yahoo!’s response has been to buy New York-based Dapper, which was founded by Eran Shir and John Aizen in 2006.

The acquisition is expected to close in Yahoo!’s fourth quarter. ®