Digital ad company Taboola says it plans to go public through a merger with ION Acquisition Corp., a special acquisition corporation.
The company places pictures of content on Internet sites with headlines such as “8 Celebrities Who Have Serious Illnesses” or “Look Who Fails Later in America,” earning revenue for the publisher. The company claims that it is used by more than 13,000 advertisers to reach more than 500 million daily active users.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter and the combined company will operate under the name Taboola and operate on the NYSE under the symbol “TBLA”. The deal gives Taboola a pro forma valuation of about $ 2.6 billion.
“Open networking is really important, even essential, because it’s free and diverse and doesn’t belong to any giant company. Think of all the websites you love: every game, app on a mobile device, or connected TV that you live out of walled gardens, ”Adam Singolda, CEO and founder of Taboola, said Monday.
“But open web businesses rely on walled gardens competing against them with more data, more technology, and more advertiser relationships, while advertisers have no choice but to turn to walled gardens to access users effectively on a large scale. “.
He added in the message that the company plans to provide recommendations for “anything” (e-commerce products, apps, games and more) and that the company wants them to be available “anywhere” from “all devices, TVs.” connected and cars “and more.”
Taboola and competitor Outbrain, in October 2019, said they would merge in hopes of becoming a bigger competitor to digital advertising giants like Google and Facebook. But almost a year later, the merger talks ended after the companies could not agree on the revised terms of the deal.
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