Everyone wants a piece of the advertising pie. Microsoft announced its purchase of Rapt, an advertising management software and services company, today. Rapt's software and services aid online publishers with improving their ability to price, forecast and deliver ads. Microsoft plans to use Rapt to beef up and bolster its presence among online publishers. The company already has Expedia, Dow Jones and The New York Times as clients. Oh! And Yahoo! Executives from the company met with Microsoft reps just recently in an attempt to keep ironing out a deal.

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