AOL gets behavior adjustment with TACODA purchase

I've known Dave Morgan, the founder of TACODA, for some time. Back in 1995, he founded Real Media, which was a pioneer of online ad networks.

No doubt, he's one of the top thinkers in the space – and has been a great source for my stories at BloggingStocks.

Well, today TACODA announced it is selling to AOL, a unit of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and also the owner of BloggingStocks.

Morgan has proved himself a step ahead of the technology curve and TACODA is no exception. The company is a leader in so-called "behavioral targeting" for online ad networks. Basically, it means an ad can be based on such things as preferences, age, gender and so on.

It's cool stuff – but not easy to pull off. Also, it's something that needs a lot of scale. And that's why a deal with AOL makes a lot of sense.

In fact, according to a study from eMarketer, the behavioral targeting market is forecast to grow from $350 million in 2006 to $3.8 billion by 2011.

So where's Morgan going now? Actually, he said he'll be moving over to AOL (this is according to an email exchange I had with him this morning).

If you want to check out more recent M&A deals, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.