Francisco Partners

Infillion Leads MediaMath Auction; Meta Boosts Ad Spend

MediaMath’s assets are up for auction in a bankruptcy process, with Infillion emerging as the top bidder at around $22 million for the company’s demand-side and data management platforms. This bid comes as MediaMath reportedly owes about $125 million to sell-side platforms Magnite and PubMatic. Infillion reportedly aims to restore MediaMath’s technology and recruit former staff and clients. MediaMath founder Joe Zawadzki is not believed to be bidding, despite attempts to form a buyer syndicate called Project Phoenix. The auction is scheduled for Wednesday morning, August 23, 2023. Separately, Meta is issuing ad credits ranging from $40,000 to $200,000 to advertisers to bolster spend across In Stream, Reels, and Stories, along with credits for Instagram shopping ads. X is removing headlines/descriptions from shared article links, and broader platform changes are noted alongside other industry updates.

Prepare for the Mother of All M&A Booms

Terence Kawaja, CEO of LUMA Partners, argues that the ad tech sector is at an inflection point and predicts the next 18 months will bring the greatest surge in M&A activity the industry has ever seen. He cites eight supporting factors, including an economic rebound with Goldman Sachs forecasting 8% US GDP growth in 2021 and digital advertising rising 26% to about $190 billion from a $150 billion base. Regulatory and data-privacy shifts, notably Google cookie deprecation and Apple's IDFA changes, are driving a re-architecture of identity in the open web. He also notes headwinds for the triopoly and a rising private-equity appetite, with notable investments by Vista Equity Partners (Mediaocean, IAS, TripleLift; TripleLift valued at $1.4B), Blackstone (Vungle, Liftoff), KKR (AppLovin), Providence Equity (DoubleVerify), Francisco Partners (Operative), and GTCR (Simplifi). Verizon's sale of Yahoo/AOL to Apollo for $5B is cited as a rationalization of assets, and the piece suggests more public ad tech players and high valuations will fuel deals.

Lorne Brown, New CEO Of Sintec Media, Eyes TV’s Future

Lorne Brown, former CEO of Operative and president of SintecMedia, will become CEO of SintecMedia, with outgoing CEO Amotz Yarden moving to the board. SintecMedia acquired Operative for $200 million about six months after Francisco Partners purchased SintecMedia for $400 million. The merged company aims to provide back-end order management for converged digital media and linear TV ad sales, with the OnBoard product combining Operative’s digital features and SintecMedia’s SaaS-based sales proposal system to enable selling OTT, linear, and digital in one proposal. Google is deprecating DoubleClick Sales Manager, potentially reshaping the competitive landscape as publishers seek more automated, integrated solutions. Brown also notes plans to pursue an eventual public offering in a few years, aligning with Francisco Partners’ strategy and the company’s profitability.