Criteo is holding M&A discussions with Skai to bolster its retail media play
By Ronan Shields and Kayleigh Barber • August 14, 2024 •
Ivy Liu
Criteo is in M&A talks with Skai, a firm beforehand is thought as Kenshoo, with the negotiations doubtlessly main to a deal price a total bunch of hundreds and hundreds of bucks, per sources because the France-basically based fully outfit looks to position itself as a retail media specialist.
The 2 firms receive been in talks for some weeks, indicating negotiations are in a moderately evolved stage, albeit a mix of the 2 firms is removed from decided, per more than one Digiday sources.
Skai appointed bankers to solicit presents earlier this year with one provide acquainted with the dispositions, who requested anonymity in return for candor, informing Digiday that it has basically spoken with strategic avid gamers. “The EBITDA and impart of Skai is spectacular,” principal the provide, who later went on to estimate that the Israel-basically based fully firm would within the shatter promote for “north of $500 million.”
When Digiday contacted Criteo’s corporate communications group for comment, the group principal its policy now now not to communicate about such market reviews. Meanwhile, Skai’s PR company did now now not answer to more than one requests for comment.
When Skai became as soon as basically based in 2006, it became as soon as is thought as Kenshoo. Which capacity of this truth, it built up a reputation within the performance advertising and marketing and marketing sector. In 2021, it rebranded to Skai to deem its occupy evolution following the earlier aquire of Indicators Analytics.
The aquire of Indicators Analytics became as soon as geared toward serving to the firm, which raised $60 million in more than one funding rounds forward of an undisclosed 2016 project round, speed its e-commerce capabilities, per Crunchbase.
Such e-commerce capabilities would doubtless existing stunning to Criteo whose chief executive Meghan Clarken has place retail media front and heart of the France-headquartered firm’s turnaround scheme since she joined in 2020.
Clarken joined because the firm, prolonged-is thought as an ad retargeting firm that became as soon as heavily reliant on third-celebration cookies, noticed its stock effect heavily impacted by the slack erosion of remarketing tools on the originate internet by platforms such as Apple and Google.
Clarken’s scheme has fervent diverse acquisitions, notably closing year’s aquire of BrandCrush, a deal that followed its deals to aquire Mabaya and IPONWEB in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Despite Google’s contemporary departure from its within the muse stated aim of wholesale deprecating third-celebration cookies in its internet browser, Google Chrome, serving to producers target adverts on retail media internet sites is quiet at the core of Criteo’s scheme.
In early July, Criteo introduced a tie-up with Microsoft Advertising that can stare the Colossal Tech behemoth elevate its “huge request of” to its global community of 225 outlets because the pair objectives to ease advertisers’ frustration with the $150 billion retail media landscape. As share of the tie-up, Microsoft Advertising also intends to work with Criteo as its most standard onsite media partner to invent “a honest more unified retail media ecosystem.”
In accordance with separate sources, the addition of Skai, whose competencies include serving to producers navigate walled gardens, to the Criteo abilities stack would (theoretically) additional assist the firm realign its dimension capabilities to show conceal incrementality dimension.
After a quiet few years for mergers and acquisitions within the ad tech sector, the replacement of deals is starting to make bigger. Outbrain now now not too prolonged within the past confirmed its $1 billion aquire of Teads, following earlier reviews that Connatix and JW Player are also in talks to merge, among different an identical dispositions.
https://digiday.com/?p=552601
