AOL said it agreed to buy Adap.tv for $405 million in a cash and stock transaction. The company will run as an independent unit within AOL but be included in the overall "solution" AOL offers to its publishing and advertising partners, the companies said in a press release.
The deal is the latest financing event for a video ad platform. Shares of YuMe, the Redwood City, Calif.-based video network, began trading on the NYSE Wednesday after an initial public offering at $9 a share. Last month, Tremor Video offered its shares to the public at $10 each and now has a market capitalization of about $400 million.
The deal is also the largest acquisition by AOL after Tim Armstrong joined the company as its CEO.
Armstrong said AOL was attracted to Adap.tv because of two trends in the video market: "The movement from linear television to online video and the shift from manual transactions to programmatic media buying." He added, "Adap.tv is positioned squarely in front of the huge opportunity these trends are presenting."
For more:
- read the press release
- AllThingsD had this report
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