In the wake of Yahoo and Google both dealing, Microsoft is telling the world, “don’t forget about little old us.” Market Watch is reporting MSFT is offering a billion dollars for 24/7 Real Media Inc. Not too shabby.

Previously, we asked whether MSFT could keep up with Google.  that certainly makes it look like they are trying (though I doubt it will work).

One funny thing to note. On 24/7’s homepage, they take up 60% of the screen real estate ominously asking the reader “Google to Acquire Double go - Good for them. Good for you?” Clicking the link strangely only brings you to a contact profile.

From a publishers perspective, my experience with 24/7 Real Media is that I have always viewed them as a sub-par company. Advertising.com (now owned by AOL), Tribal Fusion, Burst Media and even Google Adsense have all been superior revenue drivers for me. 24/7 was never able to deliver these results and hence I stopped dealing with them by a year ago.

Danny Sullivan is all by that report:

Yahoo said it would acquire an ad network yesterday, in reaction to Google’s plans to expand its own ad network by acquiring DoubleClick. Now in One Giant Leap, the New York Post reports rumors that Microsoft might want to buy ad management company 24/7 Real Media.