Digital advertising platforms Taboola and Outbrain are merging to offer enhanced advertising efficacy and reach to marketers worldwide, while helping news organisations and other digital properties more effectively find growth in the years to come.
The combined company will offer advertisers with “a meaningful competitive alternative” to Google and Facebook; greater advertising efficiency by helping clients reach their awareness, consideration, and conversion goals; and increase revenue to publishers, mobile carriers, and device manufacturers. Through this, they will be able to drive better user engagement. Also, the combined company will be able to better address the evolving needs of its partners and customers by merging its data science and AI teams, and accelerating investment in R&D. Additionally, the combined company will also be able to accelerate the development of innovative solutions, improving consumers’ ability to enjoy quality journalism.
Following the merger, founder and current CEO of Taboola Adam Singolda, will assume the CEO position of the combined company while will operate under the Taboola brand name, with the branding to be determined and to reflect the merger of the two companies. EldadManiv, president and COO of Taboola and David Kostman, co-CEO of Outbrain will work closely together on managing all aspects of the post-merger integration. Meanwhile, co-founder and co-CEO of OutbrainYaronGalai will remain committed to the success of the combined company, and actively assist with the transition for the 12 months following the closing.
The combined company will have over 2,000 employees across 23 offices, serving over 20,000 clients in more than 50 countries across Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, and Middle East.
Singolda said it is passionate about driving growth for consumers and supporting the open web, which it considers critical in a world where “walled gardens are strong, and perhaps too strong”. “Working together, we will continue investing to better connect advertising dollars with local and national news organisations, strengthening journalism over the next decade. This is why we’re merging; this is our mission,” Singolda added.
Meanwhile, Galai said that both him and co-founder and CTO OriLahav had a vision of helping consumers discover quality content online, and they see a “tremendous opportunity” in joining forces in order to bring the next wave of innovation to its publisher partners and advertisers.
“I’m confident that together, we will be able to further our mission, which we call our lighthouse, of bringing the best, most trustworthy content discovery capabilities to users around the world,” he added.
Taboola’s Maniv also said that as soon as the merger closes, the company will work to integrate teams, technologies and infrastructures so it can quickly accelerate growth across all dimensions. “We have set aggressive goals for bringing value to our customers, driving technology innovation and delivering financial results to our shareholders through increased efficacy and innovation. By working with David and the Outbrain team, I’m confident we can achieve them,” he said.
