• by Laurie Petersen , August 10, 2007

Shareholders of aQuantive approved the purchase by Microsoft at an 85% premium in a sparsely attended special meeting in Seattle on Thursday. The deal is expected to close within days.

More than 58 million shares were voted to approve the deal, out of approximately 79 million shares outstanding. According to Seattle Post-Intelligencer blogger Todd Bishop, the meeting lasted a little over six minutes and drew about 20 people.

Microsoft will pay $66.50 per share, making it the largest acquisition in Microsoft's history.

According to Microsoft, aQuantive will continue to operate from its Seattle headquarters as part of Microsoft's Online Services Business.

aQuantive was founded in 1997 and has three major business units: online ad agency Avenue A|Razorfish; Atlas, an online ad-serving unit, and advertising network DRIVEpm.

On Tuesday, aQuantive reported that second-quarter net income fell to $9.6 million, or 11 cents per diluted share, from $12.3 million, or 15 cents per share in 2006.

While the companies have yet to publicly address how they will handle potential conflicts, aQuantive chairman Nick Hanauer told the P-I's Bishop that his early integration worries have diminished.

"My early fears that Microsoft would bungle the integration have vanished," Hanauer said. "Clearly, they have done and are doing a spectacular job."