Yahoo takes minority stake in ad network Taboola

Yahoo has taken a 25% stake in content discovery and ad network Taboola. In exchange for this move, Taboola is becoming Yahoo’s native advertising partner through a 30-year commercial agreement. According to Yahoo news, the partnership is expected to generate US$1 billion in annual revenue and Yahoo will also get a seat on Taboola's board. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year. Yahoo is currently owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

Taboola will exclusively power native advertising across all of Yahoo’s digital properties and will be available to buy through the Yahoo DSP, establishing Taboola as a native advertising offering for advertisers, publishers and merchants on the open web. According to a release, through this partnership, Taboola will benefit from Yahoo’s scale as a consumer tech company reaching nearly 900 million monthly active users worldwide as a top-ranked internet property across mail, sports, finance and news.

By powering Yahoo’s native advertising solutions, Taboola will help deliver greater reach, better campaign performance and improved user experiences, supporting brands as they continue to look for alternative advertising options outside of walled gardens.

Taboola will continue to invest heavily in research and development (R&D), enhancing how people discover things they may like and strengthen its leadership in contextual advertising. As part of the partnership, Yahoo will receive just under 25% of the pro forma equity of Taboola. The partnership will allow Yahoo to further enhance its own unified advertiser offerings, enhance consumer experiences across Yahoo’s owned media properties and participate in significant shared value creation as Taboola’s largest single shareholder.

Yahoo is an internet pioneer, representing one of the largest, most trusted and most sophisticated publishers in the world, said Adam Singolda, founder and CEO of Taboola.

“Everywhere I look, I see a rocket ship growth opportunity for both of us - native, eCommerce, video, header bidding (display) and more. This win-win partnership will meaningfully accelerate our growth flywheel, expanding our reach to more users on the open web with high-intent traffic to provide world-class solutions for advertisers, publishers, merchants and users in a cookie-less world,” Singolda said.

Singolda added for publishers in the open web, the partnership will enable more investment in driving revenue, engagement and audience growth moving forward, empowering performance, brand advertisers, merchants as well as agencies with an immense reach to users in a premium, trusted environment. He added, "This partnership is a big step toward achieving our goal of generating US$1 billion in ex-TAC by 2025.”

“Partnering with Taboola enables Yahoo to further enhance the contextual and native offerings within our unified advertising stack," said Jim Lanzone, CEO of Yahoo. Lanzone shared that the partnership also allows Yahoo and Taboola to continue to differentiate in market, improving user, advertiser and publisher experiences across properties, while benefiting from the long-term tailwinds in digital native advertising.

“Together with Taboola, we will maximise reach and campaign performance for advertisers, enhance monetisation opportunities for publishers, and drive improved, privacy-forward experiences for users. As we continue to build the next era of Yahoo, we are thrilled to have strong partners by our side,” he added. 

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