In a clear sign that mobile advertising has arrived and become a major revenue opportunity, Google today announced that it is buying AdMob, the upstart mobile advertising company based in Mountain View, Calif., for $750 million in stock. On AdMob’s blog, Google’s Susan Wojcicki, VP of product management, and Vic Gundotra, VP of engineering, write:
For publishers of mobile websites and applications, this deal will mean better products and tools and more effective monetization of their content — allowing them to focus more on their users and less on how to generate revenue.
For advertisers who want to reach users when they are engaged with mobile content, this deal will bring better, more relevant ads and greater reach. It will also mean more interesting, engaging ad formats.
AdMob has long been the dominant pure-play ad company in mobile, gaining traction as a kind of automated ad clearinghouse for inventory on the mobile web. The company has also expanded into mobile app advertising, which has exploded thanks to uptake of superphones such as the iPhone and Android handsets. Google, meanwhile, has primarily focused its mobile ad business on search.
As Google pointed out, the deal follows a handful of similar acquisitions by traditional online companies looking to move into mobile: AOL bought Third Screen Media more than two years ago, Yahoo picked up Actionality several months later and Microsoft bought its way onto the field with the pickup of ScreenTonic. But Google’s move raises the stakes for all the players in the game, and fires a warning shot across the bow of smaller mobile startups. Expect Google to move quickly to integrate AdMob’s business with its own mobile ad division as the company’s Android platform picks up steam.
While Google certainly paid a premium for not buying in earlier — or for establishing a thriving mobile ad placement business of its own — the tie-up appears to be a good fit. UBS analyst Brian J. Pitz speculated that Google is likely to integrate AdMob’s technology, clients and publishers into its AdSense network, which launched a mobile component two years ago. And J.P. Morgan said the acquisition “makes perfect strategic sense,” allowing Google to leverage AdMob’s technology to serve and analyze emerging ad formats:
“In our opinion, Google has invested heavily in growing the mobile Internet business through its development of Android and inclusion of mobile ads on AdWords,” the firm wrote in a research note. “The acquisition of AdMob should allow Google to monetize its support of the development and use of mobile Internet content further.”
AdMob doesn’t disclose revenues, but J.P. Morgan estimates the company generates between $45 million and $60 million in revenue on an annual basis. The company has raised $47.2 million in venture capital from Accel Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Sequoia Partners, and it has seen its number of monthly ad requests increase sixfold over the last two years, reaching 10.2 billion in September.
[...] http://gigaom.com/2009/11/09/breaking-google-buys-admob/ a few seconds ago from api [...]
you gotta wonder if this still would have gone through were admob still in a relationship with facebook…
[...] [via GigaOM] [...]
Ad mob’s revenue? Anybody?
AdMob’s revenue is 20M as I just read from TechCrunch
[...] AdMob acquisition is spreading over the Internet. Famous online media like Techcrunch, Gigamo and Mashable reported this new at the first moment because Google has the biggest online [...]
your site takes too long to load
Well, this is pretty lucrative. I didn’t have the slightest idea that the ads I were seeing on my iPhone came from one source. Admob is such a potential advertising firm that’s when shaked-lightly could produce an extremely big (ROI) Return of Investment to BIG G
Will Admob be The New Adsense for Mobile? http://bit.ly/admob-the-new-adsense-for-mobile
You gotta love the timing of Google – having a recent release of Android
[...] wants to do with mobile Web advertising like it is dominating search advertising and AdMob has a strong foothold in it. AdMob has built a business what is approaching a $100 million business [...]
no one cares except Admob employees
[...] – Veniturile AdMob pe anul în curs sunt estimate la 100 milioane USD, din care circa 40 de milioane venituri nete (după plata publisherilor) sau mai mult conform GigaOM. [...]
[...] 11, 2009 | 7:26 AM PT | 0 comments | 0 tweets retweet » Google earlier this week said it was buying AdMob, a mobile advertising network, for $750 million in stock — clearly an attempt to get a [...]
[...] earlier this week said it was buying AdMob, a mobile advertising network, for $750 million in stock — clearly an attempt to get a running [...]
This is a good buy and fit for Google… They have been rumored to purchase AdMob for quite some time now.
I’m sick of all these new internet millionaires — when will google buy ME out?!?!??! Screw this crap!
[...] better search. But Google search hasn’t improved in a long time. Today, it’s….buying advertising platforms to cram more ads down people’s throats. It’s a move that has all the imagination and passion I’d expect from a lizard-headed [...]
[...] better search. But Google search hasn’t improved in a long time. Today, it’s….buying advertising platforms to cram more ads down people’s throats. It’s a move that has all the imagination and passion I’d expect from a lizard-headed [...]
admob.com is a big time vc scam and sucks
[...] No one has commented AdMob, the mobile advertising firm that recently made headlines thanks to a Google acquisition, might have become part of the Apple fold if things had worked out differently, according to a [...]
[...] any startup involved in advertising or mobile is pretty psyched about what Google’s bid-up $750 million AdMob buy does to its [...]
[...] like. Along the way the company attracted a venture investment from Sequoia Capital — which is doing pretty well these days, despite what you might have read in a certain traditional business [...]
[...] you are soon going to be part of Google, why give arch-nemesis, Apple and its iPhone any airtime. AdMob is in the process of being acquired by Google for $750 million. The report has some interesting facts about Android and gives a rough breakdown on the success (or [...]
[...] like. Along the way the company attracted a venture investment from Sequoia Capital — which is doing pretty well these days, despite what you might have read in a certain traditional business [...]
[...] surging smartphone sales, increased traffic on the mobile web and the explosion of mobile apps. So Google’s recent $750 million acquisition of AdMob is likely to spark another round of M&A activity in the space next [...]
[...] a mobile advertising company currently being acquired by Google in a recent report said that during the month of October 2009 (on a worldwide basis) the iPod Touch [...]
[...] which is in the process of being acquired by Google for a hefty $750 million, serves display and text ads on 15,000 mobile web sites and apps. The San [...]
[...] is the mobile ad platform that has been popular on the iPhone. Press Release TechCrunch GigaOM [...]
[...] can spin their own UI, so that it still looks and feels like a branded, proprietary OS. Then, it bought up AdMob, which makes it the force to be reckoned with in mobile advertising. Seems Google took it right out [...]
[...] is the mobile ad platform that has been popular on the iPhone. Press Release TechCrunch GigaOM [...]
[...] company, but at least one that’s had a successful exit, with Google beating out Apple to buy it for $750 million). With more than twice the global penetration of the Internet, mobile — especially [...]
[...] company, but at least one that’s had a successful exit, with Google beating out Apple to buy it for $750 million). With more than twice the global penetration of the Internet, mobile — especially [...]
[...] the U.S. Federal Trade Commission will urge the government to put the kibosh on Google’s proposed $750 million acquisition of AdMob, Reuters reported last [...]
[...] years, I recommend a download of the PDF report, which may be the last one for some time. AdMob, which was purchased by Google in November 2009, explains that it will be breaking from its monthly report schedule as it considers “how to [...]
[...] years, I recommend a download of the PDF report, which may be the last one for some time. AdMob, which was purchased by Google in November 2009, explains that it will be breaking from its monthly report schedule as it considers “how to [...]
[...] However, if there is any good news for the VC sector, then it is on the exit side of the equation. According to NVCA data, during the Q2 2010, there were 17 venture-backed IPOs that were valued at $1.3 billion and included Gaithersberg, Maryland-based Broadsoft, Inc, a developer of voice-over information technology, which raised $67.5 million and Tesla Motors which raised $226 million. During the quarter, 92 venture-backed M&A deals were reported. The information technology sector saw 78 deals M&A sector with a disclosed total dollar value of $2.4 billion, including Google’s $750 million acquisition of Admob. [...]
[...] coming months. Why? Well, over the past few months we’ve seen some major acquisitions: AdMob got snapped up by Google for $750 million, Apple bought SIRI and Quattro Wireless for rumored $450 million, and Disney spent close to $800 [...]