AOL buys Millennial Media in bid to expand mobile advertising
AOL has announced an agreement to acquire mobile platform, Millennial Media, Inc, as part of its continued investment in digital advertising and mobile ads
The $238m deal follows on from a recent partnership with Microsoft and will strengthen AOL’s mobile capabilities and status as a global mobile media technology company after it was recently acquired by Verizon.
The Millennial Media acquisition will give AOL a bigger status in mobile advertising thanks to Millennial’s 65,000 apps and 1 billion active users globally including key regions such as the US, Singapore, Japan, UK, France and Germany.
Bob Lord, President, AOL said the acquisition “accelerates our competitive mobile offering in ONE by AOL and enhances our current publisher offering with an ‘all in’ monetization platform for app developers”.
President and chief executive of Millennial Media Michael Barrett, was “excited” by what the acquisition would mean for the company’s shareholders, employees and partners.
The deal adds to AOL’s and Verizon’s strategy which was to monetise and grow Verizon’s vast mobile audience while building on AOL’s advertising network. The transaction will take the form of a tender offer followed by a merger, with Millennial Media eventually becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL.