Criteo seeks new chief executive after Megan Clarken announces pending exit
By Ronan Shields • August 27, 2024 •
Ivy Liu
Criteo has announced the launch of a “succession opinion” for a unusual chief govt after existing CEO Megan Clarken told the advert tech outfit’s board of directors that she plans to retire contained in the following One year.
This development comes at a excessive time for the corporate because it seeks to complete its transition from its earliest days as an advert retargeting outfit to a “commerce media” participant, a cross necessitated by rising privateness requirements.
Clarken will continue to attend as CEO except her successor is named — these inclinations are expected to rob place contained in the following One year. Clarken is furthermore purpose to live with Criteo in a senior advisor purpose, offering services and products except any major transition is complete.
Criteo has initiated a search and engaged Heidrick & Struggles to salvage a successor, with Rachel Picard, chair of the corporate’s board of directors, noting how Clarken has made “excessive contributions to Criteo over the past five years,” in step with a press unencumber.
Five years of M&A, plus be taught investment
Clarken took over as CEO of Criteo in November 2019, when the publicly listed advert tech company used to be experiencing some finding out times as main internet platforms comparable to Apple and Google started withdrawing reinforce for applied sciences comparable to third-birthday party cookies of their browsers.
These strikes occupy been necessitated by rising authorities privateness demands, with authorities introducing regulations such because the EU’s Ordinary Files Protection Rules and the California Client Protection Act.
On tale of this (besides to its reducing share label), Criteo shifted its focal level from advert retargeting to a broader differ of advertising applied sciences and alternate options, the defining feature of Clarken’s time in place of work. Speaking with Digiday on the time, Clarken noted her ambition for Criteo to be “the [independent] advert tech company for the begin internet.”
Since then, Criteo has made several critical acquisitions to enhance its retail media play. Basically the most valuable acquisition at some level of this length used to be IPONWEB, a main advert tech company Criteo purchased in December 2021 for roughly $380 million. This acquisition, performed in a mix of money and Criteo treasury shares, used to be a strategic cross to enhance Criteo’s media trading capabilities and better field itself in the publish-third-birthday party cookie advertising landscape.
Additionally, in 2022, Criteo expanded its capabilities by procuring the London-primarily based retail media platform Mabaya (explicit monetary terms of the deal occupy been now no longer disclosed), adopted by the 2023 purchase of BrandCrush.
More lately, separate sources told Digiday that Criteo used to be in discussions to extra its footprint in the retail media condominium by conserving M&A discussions with Skai, an outfit formerly identified as Kenshoo, with some suggesting a doable label ticket north of $500 million.
Furthermore, Clarken’s tenure used to be furthermore marked by critical investment in Privacy Sandbox be taught as Google saved the begin internet saved the ‘begin internet’ on edge with its resolution on whether or now no longer it would perchance depreciate third-birthday party cookies in its web browser Chrome — a excessive resolution that’s furthermore been thrown into demand lately.
An exit of its have?
Regardless that M&A speculation has now no longer been multi function direction at some level of Clarken’s tenure, some counsel it would perchance behold to sell to a third birthday party as consolidation in the fair advert tech condominium continues.
On the opposite hand, the mood tune from Criteo’s respectable comms crew doesn’t counsel such speculation, and the announcement of Clarken’s pending departure are associated. “Together, we occupy navigated advanced industry challenges and built differentiated capabilities which occupy transformed the corporate,” she noted in an respectable statement.
“Working closely with the board, I behold forward to continuing to e-book Criteo with my plump focal level, while guaranteeing that the succession is seamless.”
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