Tonight we're announcing the acquisition of Right Media, which I believe has the potential to dramatically enhance Internet advertising. We hope to revolutionize the way ads are bought and sold on the Internet and, in turn, drive more value for advertisers, publishers, and partners.

As new forms of content continue to increase on the Web, so do the opportunities for advertisers to get their message across. This growing inventory is driving a significant transition in the online ad world, with third-party ad networks and exchanges gaining share of the total online ad dollars. This obviously represents a growth opportunity and it’s why we made a 20% investment in Right Media in October.

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. As a result, we believe advertisers gain great new users at the best prices, and publishers see the true value of their inventory and sell every impression for as much money as possible. Everyone wins.

We think supply and demand should be regulated by the marketplace, not a closed platform. Right Media provides a democratic model that empowers advertisers with all of these benefits. We think our open approach is a clear differentiator from others in the industry and will provide significant benefits to publishers and advertisers.

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.

We see this as a key step in executing our long-term vision to build the industry's leading advertising and publishing ecosystem — both on and off Yahoo!'s network.

Right Media employees, welcome to the Yahoo! family. We're excited by your deep industry, technical, advertising and publisher knowledge, and look forward to working with a team of such high caliber and expertise.

Terry Semel
Chairman & CEO