The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and forecast to close by the end of the first quarter of 2022 with the deal likely to consist of $305 million in cash with the remainder in Criteo shares.

In a press release, Criteo’s CEO Megan Clarken described the acquisition as “a defining moment in Criteo’s transformation” as it seeks to drive growth and, more importantly, “revenue diversification” with the deal quickly following its May purchase of Mabaya.

As a publicly listed company with a market cap that’s comfortably north of the $2 billion mark, Criteo is one of the more renowned names in digital advertising. Its need to transition away from a historic reliance on third-party cookies to fuel its core ad retargeting business is a tale often told, with Criteo’s stock price often taking a hit whenever Apple and Google announce further ad targeting restrictions on their platforms.

IPON-who?

So, while Criteo may be one of the most recognizable digital advertising brands outside of the household names of Big Tech, IPONWEB is, arguably, a name that is confined to conversations among more seasoned ad tech observers. Founded in the U.K. in 2000, the significance of IPONWEB’s impact on ad tech cannot be overstated with its, predominantly Russia-based engineering team the brains behind countless ad exchanges, bidders, or any tier of the acronym-laden sector of the industry that is ad tech.

Sources tell Digiday that IPONWEB’s, comparatively, low profile is largely reflective of Dr. Boris Mouzykantskii, an academic-turned-ad tech entrepreneur who founded IPONWEB, and also held the role of “chief scientist” in parallel to his CEO title — an indication of why many refer to him as “the godfather of ad tech.”

What’s under the hood?

As mentioned, the slow decline of third-party cookies means Criteo is in search of a new narrative to shore up its stock price with the French company pinning its hopes on the rise of retail media as means of weaning itself off retargeting budgets.

The purchase of Mabaya, with its sponsored products service, was clearly a move in that direction but with the pending acquisition of IPONWEB Criteo chief Clarken is acquiring much more than that according to several sources approached by Digiday.

Criteo’s leadership was keen to laud IPONWEB’s engineering expertise — “they have built technology for nearly every major player and advertiser in the ecosystem” — and to highlight how Mouzykantskii is joining the company as its “chief architect”. In addition, it will soon have the full raft of IPONWEB services at its disposal: BidSwitch, BidCore, …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron