ValueClick swallows MeziMedia, keeps online ad M&A fever alive
ValueClick, a company that serves ads online for publishers, has agreed to acquire MeziMedia, an operator of comparison shopping sites, for $100 million in cash upfront and possibly as much $352 million, depending on whether performance milestones are met.
This continues the barrage of mergers and acquisitions in the active online ad industry. ValueClick itself has emerged as a prime takeover candidate. It is one of the largest standing targets, now that other online marketing companies have been swallowed up by industry giants. AQuantive, 24/7 Real Media and Digitas have all been sold.
Los Angeles-based MeziMedia operates Smarter.com and online coupon site CouponMountain.com. It owns sites in Spain, Germany, France and the UK, and has a development team in China. It complements ValueClick’s European comparison site PriceRunner.
MeziMedia has about 160 staffers, is profitable and generated about $40 million in revenue last year
The acquisition possibly makes it more attractive, because it brings ValueClick further into the search advertising industry, which is particularly hot.
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About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
