Matomy Media Buys Austrian Mobile Advertising Firm for $17.6 Million

By Rory Gallivan

LONDON--Advertising technology company Matomy Media Group Ltd (MTMY.LN) is buying Austrian mobile advertising specialist MobFox for $17.6 million.

Matomy said Tuesday that it will pay $10.1 million in cash and $7.5 million in newly issued shares for MobFox. MobFox shareholders may also be entitled to an additional payment based on MobFox's 2015 to 2017 financial performance, Matomy said.

The deal comes after French advertising company Publicis Groupe S.A. (PUB.FR) earlier this month bought a 20% stake in Matomy to expand its foothold in online marketing.

MobFox-which has offices in Vienna, London, San Francisco and Paris, and claims to be the largest Europe-based mobile advertising platform-supplies technology for online trading of video, banner and other forms of advertising for mobile devices.

Online advertising platforms, including mobile ones, are exchanges that match publishers that want to sell advertising space with advertisers that want to buy it. The market is fast-growing as more advertising dollars shift online.

MobFox's customers include the sportswear company NIKE Inc. (NKE) and the newspaper publisher New York Times Co. (NYT).

Matomy, which is based in Tel Aviv, but listed in London earlier this year, operates a technology platform for online advertising and charges advertisers based on the performance of their adverts, rather than upfront fees. Clients include the bank HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA.LN) and the telecommunications company AT&T Inc. (T)

Matomy Chief Executive Ofer Druker said MobFox's "business fits perfectly into our vision, complementing our performance-based advertising capabilities."

MobFox's founder and Chief Executive Julian Zehetmayr said: "Companies in the mobile advertising industry constantly talk about the need for scale and quality in their operations, so partnering with a company like Matomy that offers both advertisers and publishers a global multi-channel performance-based advertising solution makes perfect sense."

-Write to Rory Gallivan at [e-mail]

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