Taboola Mega-Merger, EU slams Facebook and Oracle Bids on CrowdTwist: Newsletter October 4, 2019

The AdTech world this week saw content distribution companies Taboola and Outbrain merge in a deal which will grant Taboola a 70% stake in the merged company in exchange for $250 million paid to Outbrain shareholders. Taboola Founder and CEO Adam Singolda will lead the new entity of around 2,250 employees with offices in New York, Tel Aviv and several other cities around the world. Taboola, which rose as a leader in the global content distribution market, has raised $160 million from investors to date.

Elsewhere, Oracle announced that they will soon acquire customer loyalty platform CrowdTwist for an as-yet undisclosed amount, in a move aimed at enhancing their customer experience cloud solutions. CrowdTwist’s advanced customer experience software will be integrated with Oracle’s Responsys, Eloqua and CX Unity platforms. Through several different program offerings, marketers utilizing the platform can employ solutions targeted at specific use cases, like loyalty and rewards programs, in order to improve customer retention.

Dotdash also announced their acquisition of Liquor.com, a digital media business specializing in cocktails, spirits and entertaining. This purchase will be the fourth niche content business acquisition for Dotdash this year, indicative of the strong returns available from high quality content businesses. As a multi-brand digital media company, Dotdash has been collecting smaller digital publications publishing evergreen content, as part of a “portfolio deal” which aims to minimize risk. With combined revenue across their 10 brands, Dotdash is expected to earn $150 million dollars this year.

In digital marketing news, the EU granted judges the necessary power to order the removal of Facebook posts globally. Judges can order posts, photographs and videos to be taken down if they are ruled to be merely “equivalent” to illegal content. Facebook stated the ruling “undermines the longstanding principle that one country does not have the right to impose its laws on speech on another country…”

New in FE exclusive SaaS listings this week we have a B2B Conversion Rate Optimization and Social Media Marketing business priced at the $235,000 price point and firmly positioned in the lucrative social media marketing and CRO niche. Having scaled by offering a highly intuitive software for e-commerce business owners looking to collect, organize, and publish user-generated content from Instagram, this highly rated product has secured glowing customer reviews. With a diverse client base of nearly 300 paying customers and several notable clients, this is a great opportunity for a new owner to continue scaling a strong product. If you are interested in this business, please follow the link above to request a prospectus.

In events news, next week on October 10th, Founder Thomas Smale will be joining other startup founders and entrepreneurs from around the country in Sioux Falls for the Innovation Expo – feel free to reach out if you will be attending and would like to set up a meeting with him. Following this, on October 14-16, FE International is excited to be sponsoring SaaStock Dublin where the extended Market Review Edition of SaaS Mag will make its debut. As one of the premier SaaS conferences of the year, we look forward to connecting with SaaS leaders from around the world so come find us on the expo floor if you will be in attendance and grab your copy of the magazine!

Continue reading below for more on Oracle, Taboola and Facebook (plus a bonus story on the surprising competitive advantage of GDPR compliance).

Listings

New

SaaS – B2B Food & Catering Ordering Platform – $32K gross/mo

  • Business firmly positioned in the lucrative social media marketing and CRO niche
  • Robust product with integrations across all the major e-commerce platforms
  • Highly rated product securing glowing customer reviews
  • Diverse customer base with c.300 paying and several notable clients
  • Lean cost structure driving high net margins

Yearly net profit: $59,000
Asking price: $235,000

SaaS – B2B Digital Marketing & Content Creation Software – $3.4K gross/mo

  • Mature SaaS business firmly positioned in the lucrative digital marketing and content creation niche
  • Highly rated SaaS product securing 31,000 digital marketing users over its eight years of operations
  • Strong margins of c.80% in the LTM and 1,700 keyword rankings
  • Lean cost structure requiring minimal owner workload requirements

Yearly net profit: $30,000
Asking price: $118,000

Sold

SaaS – B2B Email Marketing & Automation – $30K MRR

E-Commerce – 20,000 Tier Amazon Merch – $5.3K gross/mo

In the News…

Oracle Acquires CrowdTwist

Oracle has released a statement announcing they will acquire customer loyalty platform, CrowdTwist. The purchase is intended to help Oracle build out its customer experience cloud. CX technology developed by CrowdTwist will be incorporated into three of Oracle’s existing platforms, Responsys, Eloqua and CX Unity. The newly integrated adaptable programs will enable marketers to improve customer retention and loyalty. A representative from CrowdTwist explains “integrating loyalty rewards programs could help marketers seeking to expand their programs past single-channel execution to omnichannel efforts.”

Taboola and Outbrain Announce Merger

Taboola and Outbrain have announced that they will merge into one entity. The strategy behind the merger is to increase the joint customer base to what will now be 20,000 online properties for a total audience of 2.6 billion. This will better position the joint entity to take on Facebook and Google in the online advertising game. In exchange for 70% control of the company, Taboola will pay Outbrain shareholders $250 million, and the entity will be led by Taboola Founder and CEO Adam Singolda. The merged entity, which will be called Taboola, is valued at $2 billion, representing an $850 million transaction value. Both companies, which are headquartered in New York, are profitable and generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue.

Capgemini Report finds Competitive Advantage in GDPR Compliance

Digital marketers obliged to adapt to GDPR regulation laws last year will find their efforts rewarded, as a new report conducted by Capgemini Research discovered that companies in compliance with GDPR regulations are outperforming competitors by 20% on average. The report uncovered a notably higher level of customer trust, customer engagement and revenue growth amongst compliant companies. According to the survey, of the 1,100 executives polled across the insurance, banking, consumer products, utilities, telecom, public services, healthcare and retail industries, only 28% were considered compliant with the regulations, making this an opportunity for businesses to gain on competing brands.

For more updates throughout the week on the financial world of online business M&A, follow our team on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram