Wow!  First Microsoft spurns a deal to buy YouTube which Google snapped up for $1.65 Billion because it was too pricey.  Now Microsoft agrees to pay double what a firm is worth to pull it into its stable.

An act of desperation?  Sure seems like it.

Obviously, when Google guys DoubleClick (a direct competitor of AQuantive / Avenue A Razorfish / Atlas) and Yahoo completed buying out the rest of its stake in Right Media, clearly there is some scrambling going on in the future control of the interactive media buying and planning space.

Add to this news that agency group WPP buying 24/7 RealMedia and you can clearly see the landscape is changing very fast even by web standards in this space.  It also looks like WPP is getting 24/7 at a steal for $649 Million.

The landscape has gotten less cluttered which could mean price escalation or it could mean better, more integrated planning options for media buyers and planners and their advertisers.

Probably a mix will result and new players are bound to get into the game as well as force others still standing against the wall waiting for a dance partner to shape up their game.