Microsoft spends $6 billion to buy aQuantive Inc

Wow, they must have really wanted that banner company rather badly to have spent what was reported as a "cash" purchase:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Microsoft Corp., not wanting to get left behind rivals in an online advertising boom, agreed to pay $6 billion in cash to acquire aQuantive Inc. on Friday, a leading agency for Internet ads which also has powerful technology that serves display and banner ads to other Web sites.

The eye-popping premium of 85 percent Microsoft is paying for aQuantive reflects a heated race for the few remaining online advertising businesses, as media and technology companies jockey for position in the Internet advertising market.

The deal caps a month of furious activity in the sector which began in mid-April with Google Inc.'s $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick Inc., a company that provides technology used by Web site publishers to deliver advertisements to viewers.

I'd say that the owners of aQuantive are probably pretty darn happy with the way this has turned out but I can't help wondering how long it will be before there really is no independence on the web, that everything will be owned by the mega corps...