According to an unconfirmed report, Microsoft is buying mobile ad network/platform InMobi. The company, which is based in Bangalore, India, says that its network touches more than a billion users per month.
Google and Yahoo were reportedly also in talks with the company but were not able to come to terms, according to the report. Google, in particular, was supposed to have been in serious discussions with InMobi, with a rumored acquisition price of $2 billion. InMobi has a global footprint.
If this is true, the acquisition would quickly make Microsoft a much larger player in mobile advertising. Without much penetration of its Windows Phone operating system and limited used of Bing in mobile, the company has fallen behind Facebook, Google and Yahoo in the race for mobile ad revenues. This could potentially change all that quickly for Redmond.
I reached out to Microsoft for confirmation that the deal is real and will update this post if I hear back.
Postscript: Microsoft has declined to make a statement confirming or denying the acquisition. A Microsoft spokesperson said the following in an email: “We don’t comment on rumors or speculation.”
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