Magnite CEO Michael Barrett says SpotX will enhance the company's video and connected-TV offering.Visit the Business section of Insider for more storiesPublicly traded digital advertising company Magnite said Friday it entered an agreement to acquire SpotX, one of European broadcaster RTL's video adtech units, in a $1 billion-plus deal.," a reference to the star of the independent adtech sector, which helps advertisers buy ads through automated systems.
While areas like online video and connected TV spaces present a huge and growing advertising opportunity, access to such inventory is fragmented across so-called"walled gardens," where the biggest players offer advertisers only one route to buy ads on certain platforms. YouTube ads, for example, can only be bought via Google.
The SpotX acquisition comprises $560 million in cash and the remainder in stock, giving SpotX an implied enterprise value of $1.17 billion. Magnite will partly fund the deal with financing from Goldman Sachs. The company fielded a number of bids, including from WPP according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Insider has contacted WPP spokespeople for comment.