WebProNews

A little shake-up in the advertising serving business took place when IAC switched its account from Google's object of desire, DoubleClick, to Atlas. Microsoft gets the win here by default. They made an offer for aQuantive, parent of Atlas Solutions, and should have that deal finished by the end of 2007.

It's also another step in sticking a competitive knife in hated rival Google, which now faces federal scrutiny over its proposed $3.1 billion DoubleClick acquisition.

An IAC executive said in a statement the Atlas deal serves IAC two-fold. Rich Stalzer, President of IAC Advertising Solutions, said Atlas allows IAC to consolidate its web properties onto one media ad serving platform.

Also, IAC believes it can offer its advertising clients better opportunities for ad targeting with Atlas as the foundation for ad delivery.

Ashkan Karbasfrooshan humorously suggested at HipMojo that a successful stint with Atlas would create the possibility of IAC selling Ask.com to Microsoft and getting out of the search side of the business.

"You do know Barry Diller’s modus operandi, right?" he said, referring to Diller's spinoff of travel site Expedia in 2005.