Yahoo! swallows! BlueLithium!

Ads chemical romance

Search engine behemoth Yahoo! has ramped up its service for advertisers by acquiring privately held global ad network BlueLithium for $300m.

San Francisco-based BlueLithium was founded in 2004 and offers web usage matchmaker technology that marries ads with an individual's lifestyle choices and interests.

Yahoo! has been on an advertising shopping spree in recent months with a number of acquisitions, including the buyout of German mobile ad outfit Actionality and online ads exchange service Right Media.

Up against rival search engine mammoths Google and Microsoft, Yahoo! is attempting to regain market share following a continuous profits slide over the past 18 months.

Earlier this year, Google acquired DoubleClick while Microsoft swallowed up aQuantive. ®