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Yahoo, which has been working to reposition itself as a media content portal under CEO Carol Bartz, has agreed to purchase Associated Content.
Yahoo expects to close the deal in the third quarter, and while it declined to disclose a purchase price, some reports peg the buy at $100 million.
Associated Content is a crowd-sourced, content-generating machine, with some 16 million monthly unique users consuming stories, audio and video on almost every topic imaginable from some 380,000 contributors.
Yahoo said it plans to bring this content to its 600 million-plus users as well as tens of thousands of advertisers, which will be able to target consumers interested in some 60,000 topics.
Content from Associated Content comes mostly from the United States, but Yahoo said it will expand the platform around the world, angling for more contributors and consumers.
Associated Content said in FAQ that it will continue to be a primary publishing destination for Associated Content contributors, with contributors continuing to log in at the Associated Content to publish and manage content.
The Website will also continue to allow contributors to submit on and get paid for topics of their choice. The company wrote in the FAQ:
“New branding initiatives will be announced in the future. Associated Content is only getting better and bigger from here – brace yourself for good times and plenty of new opportunities. With Yahoo!’s wind beneath Associated Content’s wings, contributors can expect new assignments, new ways to profit from their content and improved marketing tools!”
For Yahoo, Associated Content marks a return to the mergers-and-acquisitions scene after spending much of 2009 shuttering or selling assets it acquired, such as GeoCities, its publisher network and its Maven Networks video ad assets.
Yahoo, which is ceding its search and ad platform to Microsoft Bing, has actually regained some lost search market share in recent months thanks to a new slide show feature.
comScore said Yahoo saw its search share rise in April to 17.7, up from 16.9 percent in March and 16.8 percent in February, marking the second consecutive month of growth for a search engine that many industry watchers wrote off for losing market share.
Yahoo’s Bartz recently said Yahoo could take years to return to strength as a media Web portal. But that is exactly what it is trying to do; its bid for Associated Content is a testament to that.