Yahoo! has bought start-up Associated Content for US$90 million in cash, AllThingsD reported today. The acquisition is Yahoo!'s "clear attempt to get into the social content space and better compete with both AOL and Demand Media," the report stated.

"We've signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Yahoo!, the world's largest online media company with more than 600 million unique visitors a month. Yahoo! plans to leverage our content to extend its leadership and build upon their global properties to deliver personally relevant content in a scalable and efficient manner," Associated Content stated in an announcement on its homepage.
For advertisers, the deal means Yahoo will expand "into more topic areas and real-time content generation," Yahoo! and Associated Content stated in a press release.

Associated Content, founded in 2004 by Luke Beatty, is currently U.S.-centric, but Yahoo! plans to scale the platform globally, according to the release. The company bills itself as "the people's media company," and relies on about 380,000 freelancers who share their expertise on a range of topics, submitting opinion pieces, reviews, advice and news coverages. According to comScore, the site attracted 16 million unique visitors last month (more than the 16 million who visited The New York Times' Web site).

The acquisition gives Yahoo! "more local gravitas," Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz told The Associated Press.