Microsoft Corp, the world's largest software maker, is mulling the purchase of Claria Corp, a maker of software that generates pop-up ads and tracks the behaviour of Web site visitors, the New York Times reported on Thursday. Microsoft was offering as much as $500 million for the software company, but negotiations were also hampered by some opposition within Microsoft to the deal, the newspaper reported.
Representatives from Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, and Claria, based in Redwood City, California, declined to comment on the report. Claria, formerly known as Gator, has been criticised by privacy groups for creating intrusive advertising tools.
Claria's technology, which delivers targeted ads based on information it gathers on consumers' online behaviour, can be used to design focused advertising campaigns.
Microsoft is increasingly relying on advertising revenue to drive profits at its MSN division, which is competing against Google Inc and Yahoo Inc in the online search and portal space.
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