• The New York Times, Tuesday, January 16, 2007 10:45 AM

AOL yesterday agreed to buy Swedish ad broker TradeDoubler, marking the first acquisition by the Time Warner company since Randy Falco was named chief executive in November. The ad network, one of Europe's biggest, will cost AOL $900 million.

"If you want to get a good hold on the European Internet advertising market, TradeDoubler is the best bet," said Internet industry analyst Mats Bergstroem of the Stockholm firm Nordea Securities.

TradeDoubler is slightly different than Advertising.com, the ad inventory reseller AOL purchased in 2004. TradeDoubler works on behalf of marketers, gathering their ads in a network and then offering them to publishers at discounted prices, allowing them to choose which ads to run. For example, an online retailer could select an apparel advertiser for its shopping section and TradeDoubler and the publisher would share a cut of any revenue that resulted from a sale.

The Swedish company operates in 18 European countries, but its reach outside Europe is limited. AOL hopes the acquisition will help grow its ad revenue in Europe after selling its high-speed operations in Britain, France and Germany.

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