Two publicly-traded ad-tech companies say they want to merge, in order to seize the opportunity emerging in connected TV advertising alongside inventory of other digital channels.
Rubicon Project and Telaria announced their agreement on Thursday, without putting a price on it.
They say the combined company – owned 47.1% by Telaria shareholders and 52.9% by Rubicon shareholders – would “offer a single platform for transacting Connected TV (CTV), desktop display, video, audio, and mobile inventory across all geographies and auction types”.
Telaria CEO will become president and COO. We are republishing this video interview from May, in which he told Beet.TV: “If you think about advertiser demands, they increasingly are becoming focused on addressable. Broadcasters are going to have to catch up on what they’re doing in the online space.” In the merger announcement, Zagorski says he is eyeing creating “a scaled, omnichannel platform”.
Rubicon is the pioneering programmatic specialist, Telaria is the “video management platform”.
Although ad-tech consolidation continues apace, this one is unusual in that it is two publicly-traded companies combining.
They are projecting making cost cuts of $15 million to $20 million.
This Q3, Rubicon slimmed its net loss and swung to profit on an EBITDA basis. In the same period, Telaria gross profit grew though it clocked a small loss on an adjusted ABITDA basis.
The companies say they are starting with $150 million in cash and no debt.
The merger was managed by LUMA Partners.
