TV Ad Services Provider DG Buys Online Ad Firm MediaMind for $414 Million

Another day, another big transaction in online advertising. Days after Google finalized its $390 million deal for Admeld, Texas-based DG acquired online ad firm MediaMind for $414 million in cash. DG services the TV business by delivering video ads through a digital network. The company wants to both expand into online advertising and to offer its technologies internationally. MediaMind (formerly known as Eyeblaster) creates rich-media ad campaigns for brand advertisers. It's based in New York but was founded in London and books 72% of its business outside the U.S. MediaMind has 37 offices around the world and places advertising on 8,200 publishers' sites in 64 countries. The idea is to create great rich-media ads once and deliver globally to all types of devices. The deal valued MediaMind at $22 a share, a $6 premium over MediaMind's closing price Wednesday of $16 a share. The deal includes $100 million in cash MediaMind has on its balance sheet. It raised $57.5 million in an IPO last spring. All of MediaMind's staff will join DG, according to company CEO Scott Ginsburg. Gal Trifon, MediaMind's president and CEO, will become chief digital officer of DG. Spending in online display advertising has been accelerating after several years of slower growth. EMarketer expects online display to grow about 20% to $31 billion in the U.S. in 2011 from $26 billion in 2010. "With this acquisition, we will build on MediaMind's global operational footprint and world-class technology platform to expand our reach beyond North America," DG President-CEO Neil Nguyen said in a statement. "The combined companies will serve a global customer base and enable DG to penetrate such markets as Latin America, Asia and EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa]."

TV Ad Services Provider DG Buys Online Ad Firm MediaMind for $414 Million

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