AOL has reached a deal to acquire the video ad platform in a deal that should be worth a total of $405 million — $322 million in cash and $83 million in AOL common stock. The deal is expected to close in Q3.
“AOL is a leader in online video and the combination of AOL and Adap.tv will create the leading video platform in the industry,” said AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong. “The Adap.tv founders and team are on a mission to make advertising as easy as e-commerce and the two companies together will aggressively pursue that vision.”
This tops the $315 million that AOL paid for the Huffington Post, making it the company’s largest buy since Armstrong became CEO in 2009.
Adap.tv will operate as an independent part of AOL’s video organization, which is led by SVP Ran Harnevo.
Armstrong says that Adap.tv is at the “forefront” of both the programmatic trend ad and the shift from traditional TV to online video.
Adap.tv supported more than 26,000 ad campaigns that ran on 9,500 websites, AOL says.
The video ad company was founded in 2006 and has raised a total of $48.6 million in funding. Investors include Gemini Israel Funds, Redpoint Ventures, Spark Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
