LUMA Partners acted as Sole Financial Advisor to Millennial Media
Completed October 23, 2015
Overview
On 9/3/2015, AOL announced that it will acquire all outstanding shares of Millennial Media (NYSE: MM) for $1.75 per share in cash. The transaction was completed on 10/23/2015 following a successful tender offer.
Strategic Rationale
This announcement follows the recent acquisition of AOL by Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest wireless network. With the acquisition of AOL, Verizon acquired significant content and Ad Tech capabilities; however one key piece was missing, Mobile Ad Tech. Millennial Media will provide AOL with significant mobile capabilities to its ONE platform, creating the largest open, mobile-first programmatic platform on the market. Millennial Media is ahead of two key trends in digital advertising, the opportunity and growth in mobile advertising, as well as the shift to programmatic. Mobile ad spending is expected to reach $40 billion by 2016 (eMarketer, 03/2015). Mobile will account for 69% of programmatic ad buying by 2016 (eMarketer, 10/2014). This is a prime example of ongoing interest in digital marketing from new entrants, including Telco, Consumer Internet, CRM/Software, and Data companies. LUMA expects this trend to continue as deep pocketed buyers seek “right-time decisioning of consumer data”.
About Millennial Meda
Millennial Media (NYSE: MM) is the leading independent mobile marketplace, making mobile simple for the world’s top brands, app developers and mobile web publishers. The company’s unique data and technology assets enable its advertising clients to connect with their target audiences at scale. Millennial Media also drives monetization for its publisher and developer partners by connecting them to networks, advertisers and an RTB exchange.
About AOL
AOL is a media technology company with a mission to simplify the internet for consumers and creators by unleashing the world’s best builders of culture and code. As one of the largest online properties with over 350 million monthly global consumers of its premium brands, AOL is at the center of disruption of how content is being produced, distributed, consumed and monetized by connecting publishers with advertisers on its global, programmatic content and advertising platforms. AOL is a subsidiary of Verizon.