Google to buy mobile ad company

Google plans to buy mobile advertising provider AdMob for US$750 million stock, the search giant said on Monday.

AdMob is a leader in mobile advertising and already serves ads for some applications running on Google's Android mobile operating system.

In a statement, Google said that AdMob has made "exceptional progress" so far in the mobile advertising market, which is thought to be in its early development stages.

Google and its competitors including Yahoo and Microsoft have been competing to gain traction in the mobile market, which they see as having potential for significant revenue streams. Already there are more mobile phone users in the world than computer users, so they believe that serving ads to mobile users can build a new source of revenue.

Both Google and AdMob have approved the acquisition.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.