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Microsoft Corp admitted its largest acquisition in the Internet sector was effectively worthless and wiped out any profit for the last quarter, as it announced a $6.2 billion charge to write down the value of an online advertising agency it bought five years ago. The announcement came as a surprise, but did not shock investors, who had largely forgotten Microsoft's purchase of aQuantive in 2007, which was initially expected to boost Microsoft's online advertising revenue and rival Google Inc's purchase of DoubleClick.

On most days, Twitter is now generating the majority of its revenue from ads shown to its users on mobile gadgets, rather than from ads on Twitter.com, company executives said. One key reason: People who see a Twitter ad on their phones are more likely to click or interact with it in some way, which is how Twitter gets paid for advertisements.

Coca-Cola's marketing chief, Joe Tripodi, said that advertising with Facebook probably helps drive sales. The comment marks a powerful endorsement at a time when some advertisers, such as GM, have expressed doubt about putting ad dollars into Facebook.

Facebook Inc., owner the world’s largest social network, says it’s working on a location-based mobile-advertising product that will allow companies to target users with real-time data showing their whereabouts.

For decades there's been no such thing as a commercial radio or TV spot in Cuba. Ditto for billboards, website banner ads, and newspaper classifieds.

TiVo is working with advertisers and agencies to develop PayPal-enabled commercials, allowing people to make instant purchases through interactive ads on their video recorders.

An advertising industry group says revenue from Internet advertising in the U.S. hit $8.4 billion in the first three months of the year. That's the highest for the first quarter, up 15 percent from $7.3 billion in the same period last year.

Stung by claims in recent weeks that its advertising doesn’t work, Facebook is pouring on the public relations to insist that in fact, ads work just fine on the site. But while some of the claims of critics rest on shaky evidence, many questions about Facebook’s value as an advertising medium remain among the brands that constitute the bulk of all advertising online and off.