Yahoo buys Associated Content for about $100M

New acquisition shows Yahoo extending its range of content to real-time, plus for advertisers

Yahoo announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to purchase Associated Content, an online publisher and distributor of original articles and other content, for an estimated $100 million.

Associated Content considers itself the "People's Media Company," providing a platform for freelance writers to get paid for sharing instructional information, reviews, guides, interviews, opinion pieces, and other musings.

Founded in 2005, Associated Content now has a network of around 380,000 writers. The site itself sees about 16 million unique monthly visitors and its editorial staff reviews over 50,000 articles, images, audio, and video pieces every month.

The deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter, will help Yahoo expand its umbrella of content to new subject areas as well as into real-time content creation, all things that should help boost advertising for Yahoo.

"Together, we'll create more content around what we know our users care about, and open up new and creative avenues for advertisers to engage with consumers across our network," said Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz.

As of now, most of the shared pieces on Associated Content come from the U.S., but Yahoo says it plans to expand the service internationally. Current contributors can rest assured for now that they will still log in to the regular Associated Content Web site to share or manage content and they will continue to get paid for writing in the topics they choose.