In order to regain some ground that it has vanished in the last three years to Google Inc., the Internet giant ‘Yahoo’ has decided to get hold of online advertising network BlueLithium for $300 million in a cash deal.

The acquirement was projected to help encourage Yahoo’s effort to build up a third-party advertising network, assisting the Internet Company to better oppose challengers including Google and Microsoft.

Yahoo anticipates completing the BlueLithium transaction before the end of this fiscal (2007).

BlueLithium, a venture capital-backed company based in San Jose, California, is the fifth biggest U.S. advertising network that serves up ads to 145 million unique visitors per month. It was established in January 2004 and supported by Walden Venture Capital and 3i.

Besides operating a large advertising network, BlueLithium is also known for its behavioral targeting that has become the must-have for online vendors. The service permits the marketers to target exploiters based on the Internet sites they’ve visited, plus demographic and geographic traits.

BlueLithium has around 135 employees spread in 10 offices in the US and Europe.

In the first half of this year, Yahoo’s income fell down by about 7 percent to 303 million dollars, while Google’s earnings zoomed 47 percent to 1.9 billion dollars.