Criteo has entered exclusive negotiations to acquire IPONWEB for $380 million. The French commerce media platform announced today that it plans to purchase IPONWEB in the first quarter of 2022.
Criteo says the acquisition is part of its strategic plan to “deliver the best commerce audiences at scale to both marketers and media owners across the open internet”. It says the addition of IPONWEB’s DSP, SSP and media marketplace will give media owners more access to first-party data and media-spend at scale.
The $380 million price that Criteo will pay for IPONWEB will be made up by $305 million in cash and $75 million in CRTO treasury shares. Criteo says that after the purchase it will have $600 million of financial liquidity left. The company has plans for expansion, with CEO Megan Clarken telling Business Insider last month that it wants to be “the Amazon of advertising on the open web”.
“This is a defining moment in Criteo’s transformation to drive sustainable growth and revenue diversification, creating value for all stakeholders from day one,” Clarken said today, “Criteo’s customers would benefit from enhanced full-funnel capabilities with even more flexible self-service tools, while continuing to leverage Criteo’s unique commerce data for targeting, measurement and superior outcomes.”
The deal is expected to close in Q1 2022 subject to regulatory approvals and consultation of Criteo’s French Works Council.
Helping Move Away From Third-Party Identifiers
The two companies say their combined technology will enable advertisers to reach audiences at scale without any type of third-party identifiers (whether IDFA or cookies). Pivoting away from cookies has been a focus for Criteo in recent years, as its specialism in retargeting has made it particularly vulnerable to crackdowns on identifiers.
Criteo outlined the ways in which IPONWEB’s products would combine with its own:
- BidSwitch, IPONWEB’s media trading marketplace connects 130 demand and nearly 150 supply partners, would allow broadened distribution of commerce audiences, and would make first party data activation, interoperability and measurement simpler in the post third-party cookie world, say Criteo.
- BidCore, IPONWEB’s self-service DSP would broaden Criteo’s full-funnel marketing offering, particularly expanding its offering for mid- and upper-funnel advertising.
- MediaGrid, IPONWEB’s SSP would combine with Criteo’s products to expand the company’s direct publisher footprint.
- IPONWEB’s flexible technology and customisation abilities would allow enterprise marketers and agencies to deploy bespoke versions of the existing Commerce Media Platform.
