Apollo Group picks up Aptimus

In what strikes me as an odd pairing, Apollo Group, which provides online and on-campus education, is set to acquire online advertising network Aptimus for approximately $48 million.

Apparently the company wants to use the ad network to “advance Apollo’s continuing efforts to enhance the efficacy of its online advertising investments in support of its mission to increase awareness of and access to quality education services,” as it said in a statement. Which means I suppose, that if not enough folks know about you, buy your own ad network to fix it.

Apparently Aptimus will still work with Internet publishers and advertising customers in other industries, so it might bring in some funds. But on first blush the deal seems to be more of a deal to replace its current exclusive management contract with Advertising.com, which is expiring over the next few months, by allowing Apollo to manage its Internet marketing internally.

Of course, Apollo Group also runs the adult learning annex University of Phoenix, which is a major buyer of online advertising (if all the ads I’ve seen online are any indication), so perhaps it is better to buy the cow than the milk.