AOL just announced that it is acquiring Adap.tv for $405 million ($322 million in cash and about $83 million in stock). As some have pointed out, this is the biggest acquisition the company has made since Tim Armstrong took over in 2009 (The Huffington Post was $315 million).
According to AOL, the acquisition will give it “a unique end-to-end solution and video stack for publishers and advertisers.”
Armstrong says, “AOL is a leader in online video and the combination of AOL and Adap.tv will create the leading video platform in the industry. The Adap.tv founders and team are on a mission to make advertising as easy as e-commerce and the two companies together will aggressively pursue that vision.”
He added, “Two trends are prevalent in the video space right now – the movement from linear television to online video and the shift from manual transactions to programmatic media buying. Adap.tv is positioned squarely in front of the huge opportunity these trends are presenting.
“At Adap.tv, we are focused on building the most important business within the most important category in digital advertising,” said Adap.tv CEO Amir Ashkenazi. “We believe that most TV advertising will soon be traded programmatically on platforms like ours. The combination of AOL and Adap.tv accelerates our vision of efficient and effective TV and video advertising.”
Adap.tv will be independently operate as part of AOL’s video organization led by Ran Harnevo. It will be included as part of the AOL Networks solution, which includes Advertising.com, the AOL On Network, Be On, ADTECH and Pictela.
While the boards of both AOL and Adap.tv have approved the deal, it is subject to closing conditions. The companies expect it to close in Q3.
Image: Ashkenazi and Armstrong (BusinessWire)