The combination of America Online's advertising inventory with the Advertising.com network will provide advertisers with the chance to reach more than 140 million Internet users. It will also enable AOL to offer advertisers an expanded suite of customised solutions.

These will include branding, paid placement, and multimedia delivered on a CPM or performance basis. Advertising.com works with more than 800 US advertisers to optimise the performance of their online marketing campaigns. Advertising.com's proprietary ad delivery and optimization tools enable advertisers to increase and measure their return on investment.

Advertising.com also works with over 1,500 online publishers by providing a large and consistent customer base for their available advertising inventory and by licensing its ad serving technologies.

America Online chairman and CEO Jonathan Miller, said, "Online advertising is showing very strong growth across the industry, and the acquisition of Advertising.com underscores AOL's determination to strengthen its competitive position. Advertising.com has built a profitable, scalable and highly attractive business. This acquisition is a strategic move that will bolster AOL's advertising business, building on the strides made in the past year."