Yahoo! May Buy Video Ad Service BrightRoll for About $700 Million

Yahoo! is reportedly in talks to buy cross-platform digital video advertising service BrightRoll for a price in the range of $700 million to $725 million. Yahoo! is focusing its acquisition strategy on companies that can build up its revenue-generating ability, according to TechCrunch, which reports that term sheets may have already been signed. It says negotiations could be impacted by current pressure on Yahoo! from activist investor Starboard Value to consider a breakup or sale of the company. BrightRoll says its powers digital video advertising for 85 of the top 100 U.S. advertisers and 18 of the top 20 advertising technology companies. It surpasses AOL and Google in terms of video ad reach, ranking number one in comScore's August 2014 online video rankings report.