AOL to buy Millennial Media for $238 million
In a move to compete with Facebook and Google’s ad tech business, AOL has acquired end-to-end mobile platform Millennial Media for a total of USD 238 million. This move will help AOL continue its investment in cross platform programmatic technology for marketers and publishers.
AOL itself was recently acquired by Verizon, one of United States’ largest wireless network. . AOL now operates scaled global content brands, a scaled global content delivery network, a scaled global programmatic advertising platform and a subscription services platform.
The acquisition helps AOL to:
• Add a leading supply-side platform for app monetisation with over 65,000 apps to its publisher suite of offerings
• Add significant mobile brand advertising scale across ONE by AOL
• Have access to approximately 1 billion global active unique users and robust addressable and cross-screen targeting capabilities
• Accelerate its mobile position in key international markets, including Singapore, Japan, UK, France and Germany
• Add world-class engineering, sales and product talent that specialise in mobile to AOL
“AOL is well positioned as consumers spend more and more time on mobile devices, and as advertisers, agencies and publishers become more reliant on programmatic monetisation tools. As we continue to invest in our platforms and technology, the acquisition of Millennial Media accelerates our competitive mobile offering in ONE by AOL and enhances our current publisher offering with an ‘all in’ monetisation platform for app developers,” said Bob Lord, President, AOL.
“By joining AOL, we will be adding additional mobile expertise to AOL’s growing technology assets. I am excited by what this acquisition means for our shareholders, our employees and our partners,” said Michael Barrett, President & CEO of Millennial Media.
According to eMarketer, 69 per cent of mobile ad spend will be bought and sold programmatically (more than USD 14 billion), and programmatic video will reach USD 4 billion by 2016. Furthermore, Cowen & Company expects mobile display and video advertising to grow from approximately USD 3.8 billion in 2015 to USD 9.2 billion in 2018 at a compound annual growth rate of 35 per cent.
Founded in 2006, Millennial Media is headquartered in Baltimore, MD and has additional U.S. offices in Atlanta, Boston, New York and San Francisco, and international offices in Hamburg, London, Paris, Singapore and Tokyo. Millennial Media’s portfolio of assets includes acquisitions of TapMetrics, Condaptive, Metaresolver, Jumptap and Nexage.
The transaction will take the form of a tender offer followed by a merger, with Millennial Media becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL upon completion. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, and is expected to close this fall.
