During a panel discussion at Advertising Week '07 last week, an AOL executive called eBay a provocative acquisition. According to PaidContent.org, AOL's Executive Vice President of Sales & Partnership Alliances Kathy Kayse was discussing the viability of portals as an advertising medium and said AOL's site would be strengthened by the addition of a commerce partner.

Kayse told PaidContent after the panel discussion that AOL had not made any overtures to eBay, and said it was eBay's depth of data and its relationships with consumers and small business owners that made it an interesting acquisition.

eBay and AOL were partners in the 1990s, first entering into an advertising agreement in late 1997. In 1999, eBay paid $75 million over four years to get prominent exposure on AOL's sites - and an agreement from AOL that it would not get into the online auction business. The deal unraveled in 2003.

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-draft-ad-week-07-notes-for-aol-media-buyer-panel