Online advertising services firm 24/7 Real Media is to be acquired by the WPP group for $649 million.

The old time internet advertising firm had its origins serving ads for Yahoo! and Netscape in 1994 and was formerly founded the following year as Real Media. After numerous acquisitions it took its current name and grew to have 20 offices in 12 countries, serving over 200 billion advertising impressions every month.

In a statement, 24/7 Real Media CEO David J Moore said that the deal validates the importance of emerging, digital media to the global advertising market.

From a market perspective Moore is right. Serious deals such as this one highlight the increasing value of the online advertising marketplace as a significant player in the global marketing business. It will also have venture capitalists with investments in advertising related companies rubbing their hands with glee; their investments look a whole lot better today than they did yesterday.