AOL To Acquire Online Ad Net Tacoda For Around $275 Million
By Staci D. Kramer - Tue 24 Jul 2007 05:28 AM PST
AOL announced this morning that it has a “definitive agreement” to acquire Tacoda, one of the largest online ad nets focused on behavioral targeting and one of the remaining ad net indies. Tacoda, founded in 2001 and based in NYC, will continue as a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL. No terms were disclosed. The NY Post, which appears to have had the story first, puts it at $200-300 million. Reuters puts the price around $275 million in cash.
It’s a switch from Tacoda’s recent public stance—last May chairman Dave Morgan told Crain’s NY: “When a business like ours grows as fast as we are, you don’t want to sell. We think we can become a public company in the future.” Rafat adds: It is a switch in Morgan’s stance from two weeks ago, at the Fortune iMeme conference, when he said told me the same thing after I asked him about sale, about the opportunity to build independently, the world looking for alternatives to Google, etc. The company has raised a total of $33 million till now, and backers included Rho Ventures, Masthead Venture Partners, Hanseatic Americas and Union Square Ventures...investor Brad Burnham explains the deal on his blog here.
ClickZ: Tacoda had been working with several investors, mulling over IPO or selling possibilities, and two strategic investors including AOL had shown an interest in acquiring the firm.
It’s the latest in a series of ad acquisitions for AOL—most recently, mobile advertising firm Third Screen Media and German network AdTech AG.
Posted in: Advertising, Companies, Time Warner, AOL, VC+M&A
