Yahoo teams up with ad powerhouse WPP Group

By Caroline McCarthy – May 16, 2008 6:09 AM PDT

Yahoo announced Friday that it has formed a partnership with three subsidiaries of advertising giant WPP: GroupM, 24/7 Real Media and WPP Digital. Through the deal, WPP agencies will have access to Yahoo-served ad space and work closely with the Right Media ad exchange, in which Yahoo was a major investor before it outright acquired the digital-ad platform in 2007.

No financial terms were disclosed.

"More and more, we see the need for agencies and media and technology companies to work together to create a new level of value," WPP Digital CEO Mark Read said in a statement Friday. "We are very pleased to have established this partnership with Yahoo which, enabled by our earlier acquisition of 24/7 Real Media, will turn this vision into a reality."

WPP acquired 24/7 Real Media a year ago for $649 million in cash. As part of the deal with Yahoo, WPP will use 24/7 to develop an ad platform that connects to Right Media so that WPP agencies can "seamlessly" connect to Yahoo's digital inventory.

Originally posted at The Social