TradeDoubler Tosses $115 Million At IMW Group

Doug Caverly — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:53:40 +0000

While our American readers may not recognize the name, folks in Britain should know The Search Works (“the UK’s largest search engine marketing company”). The Search Works, along with The Technology Works, is owned by The IMW Group, and thanks to a new acquisition, The IMW Group is now owned by TradeDoubler.

Whew – that was a mouthful. And the folks behind the deal may have realized as much, because, in an unusual move, part of their press release is divided into bullet points. One point states, “The newly combined entity will confirm TradeDoubler as one of the largest online marketing companies in Europe.”

Being that big is costly – TradeDoubler had to fork over 56 million pounds, or about $115 million, in order to see the acquisition through. Nonetheless, the corporation’s CEO seemed pleased with the arrangement.

“Product expansion and further internationalisation are key components in TradeDoubler’s growth strategy,” stated William Cooper in the release. “The acquisition addresses both these areas by rolling out The Search Works and The Technology Works throughout Europe and by utilising The Technology Works’ Asian foothold to assess the roll out of TradeDoubler’s product offerings into Asian markets.”

Whew. Again, sort of a mouthful. Hat tip to Carlos Grande of the Financial Times, who noted that, not too long ago, TradeDoubler turned down an acquisition offer from AOL.

AOL Looks to Acquire TradeDoubler

Joe Lewis — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 19:36:20 +0000

Early Monday, Time Warner announced plans to purchase TradeDoubler, a European provider of online marketing and sales services. The deal, which has yet to be finalized, is reported to cost the company around $900 million.

According to MarketWatch, Time Warner plans to assimilate TradeDoubler into AOL’s advertising network, Advertising.com, which buys advertising from publishers, and then uses its technology to sell that advertising to individual companies.

More info from the Marketwatch piece:

TradeDoubler shares rallied 12% to 221.50 krona in early Stockholm action, indicating investor hopes for a possible counter-bid.

TradeDoubler’s board has backed the offer, and investors that hold 20% of its shares have also accepted the Time Warner offer. TradeDoubler’s top shareholder, Arctic Ventures, is among the investors backing the deal.

In 2006, TradeDoubler was the subject of much speculation for a possible takeover, but those talks stalled late in the year. Here’s a little more information about the company:

General facts:

• Founded in 1999
• Operations in 18 European markets
• 344 employees throughout Europe
• Head quarters in Stockholm
• Local offices throughout Europe

Business facts:

• Offers online marketing and sales solutions
• Solutions to B2B and B2C companies
• Performance-based marketing model
• Proprietary technology platform

Financial facts:

• 117 million Euros in turnover 2005
• 82% increase in turnover from 2004 to 2005
• Break even reached in Q3 2002 on a group level

According to analyst reviews, TradeDoubler sports a solid free cash flow and holds a strong position within the European marketplace, which probably figures into why Time Warner is willing to shell out $900 million in order to acquire the company in the first place.

It will be interesting to see what positive effects, if any, the move has on AOL’s long-term financial success, and whether or not this means Time Warner has put plans to offload AOL on hold for now.

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Joe is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

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TradeDoubler Tosses $115 Million At IMW Group

AOL Looks to Acquire TradeDoubler