Digital advertising company Taboola says it plans to go public through a merger with ION Acquisition Corp, a dedicated acquisition company.
The company puts content boxes on sites on the Internet with headlines like “8 Celebrities Who Have Serious Illnesses” or “See Who’s Going Bankrupt in America Next,” raising revenue for the publisher. The company says 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 will trade on the NYSE under the symbol “TBLA”. The deal gives Taboola a pro forma valuation of approximately $ 2.6 billion.
“The open web is very important, even essential, because it’s free and diverse and not part of a giant company. Think of any website you love: any game, app on a mobile device, or connected TV that is outside the walled gardens. Taboola’s CEO and founder, Adam Singolda, wrote in a blog post Monday.
“But open internet businesses depend on walled gardens competing against them with more data, more technology and more relationships with advertisers, while advertisers have no choice but to turn to the walled gardens to gain access to users extensively.”
He added in the post that the company has plans to make recommendations for ‘everything’ – ecommerce products, apps, games and more – and that the company wants them to be available ‘anywhere’ on ‘any device, connected TV,’ car and more. ”
Taboola and competitor Outbrain said in October 2019 that they would merge in the hopes of becoming a bigger competitor to digital ad giants such as Google and Facebook. But almost a year later, the merger talks ended after the companies failed to agree on revised deal terms.
Nominations are open for 2021 CNBC disruptor 50, a list of private start-ups using breakthrough technology to become the next generation of large public companies. To send until Friday, Feb. 12 at 3:00 p.m. EST.