Google has agreed to acquire AdMob, a fast-growing start-up that developed technology to place ads on mobile phones, for $750 million in stock, the company said Monday, The New York Times’s Miguel Helft reports from San Francisco.
Google said that the acquisition, the third largest in its history, will help the Internet search company to speed up efforts to develop more effective tools for creating and placing mobile ads on smartphones and other devices, a small, but rapidly expanding market.
“We see mobile as a huge growth opportunity for us,” Susan Wojcicki, vice president of product management at Google, said in an interview. “We see an opportunity working with AdMob to really accelerate our efforts in an important industry for Google.”
The all-stock deal is modest for Google given its roughly $177 billion market value. But it is the third largest acquisition in Google history, behind the $3.1 billion deal for the advertising specialist DoubleClick and the $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube.
Ms. Wojcicki said AdMob, which specializes in placing banner ads on mobile phones, would help cement Google’s forays in display advertising, an area where it has lagged rivals like Yahoo.
As Google’s core business of selling text ads has been slowing, the company has been looking for new areas to expand. In particular, Google is hoping to replicate its success in selling Web ads in the mobile arena. Google, which already sells ads on mobile phones, offers a wide variety of mobile phone applications and makes the Android software that some handset makers use to power their phones.
Smartphones, like the iPhone and Android devices, represent a disproportionate amount of the company’s mobile business so far.
Founded in 2006, AdMob calls itself the “world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace.” The company, which has received $47 million in financing from venture capitalists and other investors, refused to disclose its revenue. But Omar Hamoui, the company’s founder and chief executive, said that sales have more than doubled in the last year. The company’s headquarters are in San Mateo, Calif., not far from Google’s. It employs about 140 people.
Google said it hoped to close the acquisition in the next several months. Ms. Wojcicki said she expected the acquisition would be approved by regulators.
“We would not be surprised if there is some regulatory review,” she said. “We think that mobile advertising is a very competitive area and we don’t see a lot of regulatory concerns.” (nytimes.com)
tag : google admob , admob , admob google , acquire , acquire admob , google acquire admob , Mobile Advertising
About Author
0 comments:
Post a Comment