24/7 Real Media Confirms It's For Sale

In the wake of rumors of an acquisition by WPP Group, 24/7 Real Media executives have confirmed the company is formally seeking a buyer. During its Q1 earnings call this morning, 24/7 said it’s working with Lehman Brothers to “assess a wide array of strategic alternatives.”

The company posted revenue gains but a narrow loss for the quarter, with strength in its search and technology divisions but weakness in media. Despite the mixed performance, 24/7 raised guidance due partially to an expected windfall from the joining of DoubleClick and Google, execs said.

“With some of the corporate activities, particularly the acquisition of DoubleClick by Google, a number of larger opportunities have now appeared in our pipeline, so we certainly expect that revenue will accelerate as we go through the back-end of this year and go into 2008,” said CFO Jonathan Hsu on the call.

aQuantive voiced a similar expectation during its own earnings call this week, but such claims seem premature –- unless that is, DoubleClick clients are already jumping ship? And if they are, why not say as much?