Report: Microsoft Pondering Acquisition of Adware Firm Claria

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 30, 2005 - 7:07am.

New York -- Microsoft has been in talks over the last two weeks to purchase Claria, a provider of adware that has been sued by publishers in the past over its pop-up ads, The New York Times reported. Microsoft was reportedly willing to offer as much as $500 million for Claria (formerly Gator), although a person close to Microsoft told The Times that the deal may still fall through. Microsoft may see Claria, which offers software that monitors Web surfing habits in order to serve more relevant ads to users, as a means of enhancing its search advertising capabilities in the face of rival Google. Claria's BehaviorLink software is currently installed on some 40 million PCs. Critics of the deal within Microsoft say the purchase could provoke a negative reaction from privacy advocates, who see Claria's software as intrusive.
http://tech.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/technology/30soft.html
http://www.claria.com