aQuantive

{{Short description|Defunct American public company}}

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aQuantive, Inc. was the parent company of a group of three digital marketing service and technology companies: Avenue A/Razorfish, Atlas Solutions, and DRIVE Performance Solutions. Based in Seattle, Washington, the company was founded in 1997. According to Advertising Age magazine, in 2005 it ranked 14th by revenue among advertising agencies worldwide.

On May 18, 2007, Microsoft announced that it would acquire the company for US$6 billion, the largest acquisition in Microsoft's history until its 2011 purchase of Skype.{{cite news|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/microsoft-pays-big-aquantive-136824|title=Microsoft pays big for aQuantive|date=May 21, 2007|first=Georg|last=Szalai|newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=August 16, 2011}}{{cite news|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/131991/microsoft_to_buy_aquantive_for_6_billion.html|magazine=PCWorld|title=Microsoft to Buy aQuantive for $6 Billion|first=Jeremy|last=Kirk|date= May 18, 2007 |quote=Microsoft plans to acquire aQuantive for around $6 billion in order to grow its Internet advertising business.|access-date=August 16, 2011

}} The acquisition closed on August 10, 2007.{{cite news|url=http://searchengineland.com/microsoft-hoping-aquantives-mcandrews-can-outfox-google-12278|title=Microsoft Hoping aQuantive’s McAndrews Can Outfox Google|date=September 26, 2007 |first=Greg |last=Sterling |publisher=Search Engine Land|access-date=August 16, 2011}} aQuantive became part of Microsoft's newly created Advertiser and Publisher Solutions (APS) Group. On July 2, 2012, Microsoft announced that it would take a $6.2 billion writedown, mostly related to the 2007 acquisition of aQuantive.{{cite news| author = David Goldman| title = Microsoft's $6 billion whoopsie| url = https://money.cnn.com/2012/07/02/technology/microsoft-aquantive/index.htm| date = 2012-07-02| access-date = 2012-07-02| publisher=CNN}} In February 2013, Facebook acquired Atlas Ad Serving from Microsoft.{{cite news| author = Mary Jo Foley| title = Facebook Buys Microsoft's Atlas Ad Platform| url = https://www.zdnet.com/article/facebook-buys-microsofts-atlas-ad-platform/| date = 2013-02-13| access-date = 2013-02-13| publisher=zdnet}}