• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, August 9, 2007

With Microsoft's board scheduled to vote to buy it today, digital marketing firm aQuantive reported a 22% drop in net income for the second quarter. Costs to aQuantive of $10.9 million associated with the $6 billion deal left it with a net income of $9.6 million, the company reported Wednesday.

Still, net income for the first half of the year was up 20% year-over-year to $23.9 million.

Total revenues, meanwhile, increased 48% to $156 million in the second quarter, compared to last year's $105.6 million. Revenues for the first half of the year were up 51% to $298.6 million.

"We benefited from each business unit's strong market position, our focus on serving clients, anticipating market demand and effective recruiting initiatives," said Brian McAndrews, aQuantive president and CEO.

In the area of digital marketing services, revenue was up 47% to $94.2 million over last year's $64.1 million. Operating income was up 15% year-over-year from $11.3 million to $13 million.

In digital marketing technology, revenue was $40.2 million in the second quarter, up year-over-year from $29.7 million. Operating income was $15.6 million for the second quarter of 2007, compared to $12.1 million in the second quarter of 2006.

The digital performance media segment, meanwhile, saw revenue increase to $21.6 million from $11.9 million last year. Operating income was $3.1 million for the second quarter of this year, compared to $2.4 million in the second quarter of 2006.

Just this week, aQuantive announced a major deal to provide IAC/InterActiveCorp with its Atlas ad-serving technology for sites like Match.com, Citysearch, and Evite. Through the deal, Atlas will gain access to 60 million additional monthly unique users.

Atlas was considered key to Microsoft's agreement to buy aQuantive for $6 billion.