Public sell-side ad tech companies Rubicon Project and Telaria said Thursday that they have agreed to merge in a stock-for-stock deal.
The exchange ratio is 1.082 shares of Rubicon common stock per share of Telaria common stock.
Rubicon CEO Michael Barrett will take over as CEO of the combined companies. Telaria CEO Mark Zagorski will be president and COO.
The two public companies’ combined revenue was $217 million over the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2019.
In 2017, Barrett was named CEO of Rubicon, where he was tasked with turning around the struggling company. His next two years were marked by cost-cutting and layoffs in an effort to make Rubicon profitable.
The company began heading toward profitability this year, though it faltered in its latest earnings as ad buyers cut out resellers.
Telaria originated after Tremor Video sold its demand-side business in 2015. The remaining sell-side video platform was rebranded as Telaria. The company has since been riding a wave of CTV business, and in January entered a deal to power Hulu’s private marketplace.
In merging Rubicon’s scale with Telaria’s CTV tech and clients, the combined companies say they “will create the world’s largest independent sell-side advertising platform,” able to monetize all ad formats, including across CTV, online video, display, mobile and audio.
Financially, the combined companies will have $150 million in cash and no debt.
Click here for the five things you need to know about this merger, which is expected to complete in the first half of 2020.
