Yahoo acquires an army of 380,000 freelance journalists with Associated Content buy

Yesterday, Yahoo! Inc. announced it would be acquiring Associated Content Inc., and the transaction would cost the search company an estimated $100 million.

Associated Content calls itself the "People's Media Company," and is a media outlet consisting of more than 380,000 freelancers publishing news, photos, video, and other content on subjects chosen by the site.

"Combining our world-class editorial team with Associated Content's makes this a game-changer," said Carol Bartz, CEO, Yahoo! Inc. "Together, we'll create more content around what we know our users care about, and open up new and creative avenues for advertisers to engage with consumers across our network. These are important aspects of building engaging consumer experiences on Yahoo!, and one of the reasons why we're one of the most visited destinations online."

Since Yahoo signed its 10-year search agreement with Microsoft last year, effectively bowing out of the search business, the company has been working on strengthening its other properties. This acquisition is a move toward having more of its own original content, which will give advertisers more opportunities to target users.

Associated Content will continue to run as it has been, with the same staff, but new people will be added to "augment platform development, programming, content programming and customer support." Ultimately, the platform will move from being a U.S.-only entity to a global one.