Will Yahoo! Sell Right Media Exchange?; DOJ Still Probing Google-Admeld

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

Right Media Exchange For Sale?

Yahoo! may not try to find a new CEO and instead will first consider selling off parts of the company according to an article over the weekend from The Wall Street Journal. The WSJ adds, “The priority-setting doesn’t mean that Yahoo’s board necessarily prefers a sale over staying independent (…). But the board’s sentiment is that the company needs a better handle on its strategic direction before it can settle on the right CEO,…” Read it (subscription). Interesting! Let’s assume that parts are sold off. Is the sale of Right Media Exchange an option? There would appear several RMX-infused possibilities from here. In light of Ramsey McGrory’s recent departure, the hiring of a high-powered, well-respected, industry figure to drive RMX business going forward would make sense if Yahoo! keeps it in-house.

Or maybe this is where Microsoft steps in and extends its Yahoo! search deal to display and brings Yahoo! non-guaranteed inventory liquidity to AppNexus?

If not, another scenario could be the sale of RMX to a third-party that could lead to a domino effect as any potential RMX suitors would likely consider AppNexus first as the startup is recognized for its ongoing innovation while RMX innovation has been slowed by strategic and executive shifts at Yahoo!. But, any AppNexus buyer other than Microsoft would force Microsoft to decide to either exercise its pre-emptive right to buy AppNexus or cede it to the third-party – or make another partnership arrangement. Industry insiders say Microsoft is loathe to acquire RMX in the near term as recent acquisitions failed to integrate effectively (Avenue A/aQuantive/Atlas, AdECN). Yet, Yahoo! inventory is widely viewed as display inventory “gold.” It seems possible that Yahoo! buys AppNexus with Microsoft’s help and, thereafter, RMX relationships and inventory are transferred to AppNexus digital ad plumbing. With AppNexus in-house, Yahoo! can continue to leverage the log-in of Yahoo! Mail as well as offer a scalable way to port offline data online on behalf of marketers.

DOJ Still Probing

DIGIDAY’s Mike Shields reports that the U.S. Department of Justice is continuing its probe of Google’s acquisition of Admeld: “Specifically, the DOJ has issued Rubicon and Pubmatic what are known as civil investigative demands, extensive 30-plus page documents that require these companies to provide reports and data from their various ad campaigns and other business segments.” Shields notes that this sort of request isn’t out of the ordinary for an acquisition such as this – something Google executives echo privately. Read more.

Mobile – Then Search And Display

In a lengthy interview with India’s Business Standard, WPP Group CEO Sir Martin Sorrell talks digital and stresses mobile’s emergence. Sorrell says, “The new media wave started off in the West with the PC. And then we gravitated towards mobile, and then search, display advertising online, and social networking and video content. That’s the sort of progression we’ve seen. In a market like India, mobile has become powerful much quicker.” Read it all.

Retargeting Book Lovers

The Economist looks at the digital transformation of the book publishing industry and notes the disappearance of the retail store window as a marketing vehicle: “As stores close, the industry loses much more than a retail outlet. Publishers are increasingly trying to push books through online social networks. But [HarperCollins CEO Brian] Murray says he hasn’t seen anything that replicates the experience of browsing a bookstore.” Retarget, I say! Read more. This is another reason Amazon has an amaz(on)ing opportunity as trade marketing or co-op dollars can flow through the retailer for the retargeting of book lovers everywhere.

How Do You Hire?

In a keynote address at Capital Factory Demo Day in Austin, Texas, Rapleaf CEO Auren Hoffman reveals his tips on how and who to hire when building a startup – or hiring in the corporate world for that matter. ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick recounts one of Hoffman’s tips: “The number 1 stat that people brag about that I hate is % of people who accepted a job offer. It should be below 50%. You are making a quick decision, they can do all kinds of due diligence on you – they can make the right decision about you. You want to make sure you give them enough chances to opt-out so you don’t have to fire them later.” Read them all.

Bidding CPC In Display

Andrew Goodman brings his experience from PPC days of yore to the Google Display network and notes the peculiarities of CPC bidding. He writes on ClickZ, “In the AdWords display network, it’s particularly important not to overbid. Bid to your metrics, right? If you’re not achieving your desired CPA, bid down and down in the ad group and/or keywords terms until you hit the target CPA range, right? Hmmm, maybe not.” Read why not.

eCommerce Black Ops

Walmartlabs’ Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman are featured in a piece showing that that Walmart is thinking hard about its next steps in eCommmerce as mobile and social look to become driving forces. Harinarayan tells Ad Age’s Jack Neff about how consumers will be targeted in the future: “Most of the recommendation systems you see today in online shopping are based on prior transactions. (…) It’s our belief that more than past transactions, your interests and what interests of yours are trending are better predictors of what you’d be interested in buying.” Behavioral attributes + social signal = targeting parameters. Read more.

Activists On Board

Meanwhile, back at Yahoo!, an investment group led by 5.1% ownership group Third Point LLC is demanding that changes be made beginning with the Yahoo! board after the unexpected firing of CEO Carol Bartz last week. Read more (subscription).

Europe Calling

Networking, handshakes, cocktails… why wouldn’t you? September is full of conferences including next week’s European menu of events such as dmexco in Cologne, Germany, ExchangeWire’s Ad Trading Summit and ad:tech London. Not in Europe? – we got ya covered. See the AdExchanger.com events calendar.

But Wait. There’s More!