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Analytic software supplier Omniture Inc. moved Friday to build its online advertising capability, agreeing to buy Visual Sciences Inc. for $394 million.

San Diego-based Visual Sciences, which was once known as WebSideStory Inc., is an 11-year-old provider of software the helps customers customize ad campaigns on the fly. The company boasts more than 1,500 customers worldwide.

Terms of the deal call for Orem, Utah-based Omniture to pay $2.39 in cash and 0.49 of its shares for each issue of Visual Sciences for a total consideration of about $17.83, based on Thursday's prices. Shares of Visual Sciences closed Thursday at $16.72 apiece.

Omniture said that combined with Visual Sciences it would be a company with the scale and resources it needs to serve customers. "We are facing a very significant opportunity defined by the rapid growth of online advertising and online business in general," Omniture cofounder and CEO Josh James said in a statement. "This acquisition enables Omniture to accelerate our investments in advanced solutions that drive customer success as well as create further opportunities to cross-sell our growing portfolio of products to a combined customer base of more than 4,000 customers."

The companies expect the deal to close by mid-2008, subject to approval of shareholders at both firms. Visual Sciences shareholders would own about 13.7% of Omniture post-merger.

Visual Sciences CEO Jim MacIntyre in a statement called Omniture "absolutely the right company to leverage our technology and resources for the benefit of the industry," adding that the combined company "will provide our customers with a richer solution set, faster innovation and greater access to unique industry and business expertise."

Omniture's software helps customers to capture and analyze information generated by their Web sites and other sources to help better tailor marketing campaigns and other sales initiatives. Its customers include eBay Inc., Time Warner Inc. unit AOL LLC, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Microsoft Corp. and General Motors Corp.

The deal comes barely a month after Omniture said it would buy Offermatica Inc. for $65 million in a bid to expand its marketing capabilities.

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