• by November 1, 2004

Two more signs of an online advertising upswing.

First, DoubleClick announced that it's hired investment bank Lazard Freres & Co. to "explore strategic options." These options include a potential sale of the business or some part of it. A spin off or share repurchase are also possibilities. DoubleClick's shares remain in the single digits, but it does have a market cap of nearly $800 million.

The development is interesting and suggests that the company needs a jolt of some sort to benefit from the modest advertising recovery, or at least some help in delivering more shareholder value.

But shouldn't DoubleClick's business be going through the roof right about now? Two large interactive players, AOL and MSN, recently adopted the company's DART Motif product, a positive development.

DoubleClick isn't the only player evaluating its options. WhenU, the perennially problematic adware firm, hired an investment banker several months ago, to examine its options. Remember Classmates.com? It recently sold for $100 million to United Online.

Meanwhile, venture capital appears to be flowing again; this time, we hope, more prudently. Netblue, an online direct marketing services company, last week received a $20 million injection from Oak Investment Partners. And today, Fastclick.com announced the close of a $75 million round of funding led by Highland Capital Partners.