Yahoo Buying Associated Content

(AP) Yahoo is buying Associated Content, a website that hires freelance writers and video producers to share their expertise on a wide variety of subjects.

The deal marks another step in Yahoo Inc.'s efforts to feature more material that typically isn't covered by traditional media outlets.

Associated Content draws upon more than 350,000 freelancers who contribute how-to stories, reviews, opinion pieces and coverage about what's happening in neighborhoods across the United States.

Yahoo is hoping Associated Content's unique story mix will create more opportunities to sell online advertising and revive its revenue growth.

“Combining our world-class editorial team with Associated Content’s makes this a game-changer,” Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said in a statement. “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.”

“The Associated Content team and our 380,000 contributors are looking forward to joining Yahoo! and to the opportunities that being part of a global Internet brand presents,” Luke Beatty, Associated Content founder and president, said in a statement. “Combining our crowd sourced content with Yahoo!‘s distribution, world class editorial team and online marketing leadership will accelerate our growth as we continue to leverage our best-of-breed platform to deliver high quality compelling content on more than 60,000 topics.

Associated Content's early investors include Tim Armstrong, CEO of Yahoo rival AOL.

Associated Content was founded by Luke Beatty in Denver, Colorado, in 2004. Associated Content says it receives more than 16 million unique users per month. Its editorial staff reviews more than 50,000 pieces of content per month, including articles, images, audio and video.

Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Ad Age reported the deal was for more than $100 million.

Yahoo expects to complete the purchase in the third quarter.