Global technology company has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire leading AdTech company IPONWEB, for $380 million in a combination of cash and CRTO treasury shares.
With this acquisition, Criteo accelerates its strategic plans to shape the future of commerce media and deliver the best commerce audiences at scale to both marketers and media owners.
Criteo’s Commerce Media Platform is designed to provide marketers and media owners direct access to commerce audiences across the open internet. By connecting marketer and media owner first-party data, Criteo powers audience-first advertising solutions throughout the supply chain, helping brands seeking to drive household preference via CTV campaigns, advertise on retailer websites and apps, or acquire retail direct customers.
For over 20 years, IPONWEB’s technology has helped power an open and diverse advertising ecosystem, building enterprise solutions for media owners, agencies and marketers, and providing media trading infrastructure for the AdTech industry, serving both marketers and media owners.
With this planned acquisition, Criteo accelerates its Commerce Media Platform vision and offers better control to its enterprise marketers and their agency partners by leveraging IPONWEB’s well-established DSP and SSP solutions.
The acquisition also expands media owner monetisation opportunities and provides critical services for first-party data management across the ecosystem. Together with IPONWEB, Criteo will distinguish itself as the commerce media partner of choice on the open internet for the post third-party cookie and identifier world.
Joining forces with IPONWEB turbocharges the execution of Criteo’s Commerce Media Platform strategy, according to Criteo CEO, Megan Clarken.
“This is a defining moment in Criteo’s transformation to drive sustainable growth and revenue diversification, creating value for all stakeholders from day one. 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,” she said.
Criteo’s proven excellence in AI and unparalleled focus on performance at scale have long been highly respected in the industry, according to IPONWEB’s founder, CEO and chief scientist, Dr. Boris Mouzykantskii. “We look forward to joining Criteo and together seize the vast opportunities in our fast-changing ecosystem, bringing enhanced value for our customers, employees and partners.”
Together with IPONWEB’s large media trading marketplace, Demand-Side Platform and Supply-Side Platform, Criteo would bring media owners larger scale of media spend and first-party data access.
Accessing more first-party data from media owners and being able to marry their first-party data assets with that of marketers allows superior activation, interoperability and measurement of first-party data within Criteo’s commerce ecosystem – making Criteo’s commerce audiences more universally accessible to a broader range of media buyers.