Even as Yahoo tries to stay out of Microsoft’s grip, the company is busy closing acquisitions of its own.

Yahoo said Tuesday that it had paid $160 million to acquire Maven Networks, an Internet company that sells a system for managing advertisements in online videos.

Traditional media outlets like Fox News, CBS Sports, Hearst, The Financial Times and Gannett use Maven’s technology to show and distribute videos, as well as for other tasks, such as identifying the right moment during a video to show a particular ad.

Yahoo, which is trying to position itself as a seller and distributor of all types of online ads, said the acquisition would help it sell and deliver video ads not only on its own site but on other sites across the Web. Yahoo plans to offer its ad-selling services to Maven’s media clients.