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.