Amazon.com (AMZN) Looks to Tap into Online Ad Market

Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) could be gearing up to move beyond just selling products and media content.

The WSJ noted over the weekend that Amazon is looking to delve further into the online advertising space. Amazon may be looking to replace ads on its websites, which are largely supplied by Google, with an in-house ad platform. The shift would disrupt a portion of Google's $50 billion-per-year online ad business and also take share away from Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) online ad platform.

The platform will be called Amazon Sponsored Links and testing with advertisers will begin later in 2014. The opportunity would provide access to about 250 million active users on Amazon.com and related sites.

Amazon shares are flat in early trading Monday.

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