• The Wall Street Journal et al., Thursday, June 3, 2010 11:54 AM

NOTE: A previous version of this story reported that Hearst had confirmed the sale price. This was incorrect; no one at the media company has spoken about the financial terms of the deal.

It's been a longtime coming, but Hearst has finally firmed up the purchase of iCrossing for roughly $325 million, a source familiar with the deal tells the Wall Street Journal.

"The owner of magazines including Cosmopolitan and Esquire for months has been chasing iCrossing, one of largest remaining independent businesses that specialize in advising marketers on buying Web-search keywords, crafting their websites, and tracking what people are saying about their brands online," writes The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story on Wednesday.

Hearst CEO Frank Bennack Jr. describes the deal to The Journal as a "further diversification of our lines of business."

"With this acquisition, Hearst has beat rival publisher Meredith in the race to add search ad services to its marketing arsenal," notes paidContent. "Search strategy is increasingly important to publishers and their advertisers, especially for cost-per-click advertising as part of larger marketing programs that Hearst would want to offer to its advertisers ... Search could also aid Hearst's social shopping site Kaboodle as well."

Under Hearst, a newly formed division named Hearst Marketing Services will be led by Hearst Magazines SVP Matthew Petersen. Meanwhile, "key members" of iCrossing's management team, including CEO Don Scales, will remain with the company even after the deal closes.

As The Miami Herald notes, Petersen joined Hearst in March from Meredith Corporation where he served as SVP of Meredith Integrated Marketing. "There, Petersen was a key leader in transforming the department from simply the custom-publishing arm of Meredith to a turn-key marketing services provider."

In a statement, Hearst vice chairman and CEO Frank Bennack, Jr. noted iCrossing's "strong relationships with top brands and companies." The company helps clients like Bank of America, Toyota, Travelocity and The Coca-Cola Company "connect with customers via digital platforms and increase search effectiveness and consumer engagement," as The Miami Herald explains.

A Hearst spokesperson tells Bloomberg/Businessweek that it expects the deal to close on the within 30 days.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal et al. »