Millennial has been struggling on its own, thanks to competition from companies such as Google, Facebook and other internet giants. However, this deal could rescue the company, and AOL could benefit from the deal too. Ever since Verizon bought AOL in June, AOL has been making a push to compete with other media giants.
Bob Lord, president of AOL, said it will be able to offer an alternative to Facebook and Google. This is thanks to Verizon’s data on its wireless customers, as well as the large base of advertisers that AOL has and the large pool of mobile ad inventory that Millennial Media has.
Michael Barrett, CEO of Millennial Media, said that he was excited by what this acquisition means for Millennial’s partners, employees and shareholders. Barrett said that by joining up with AOL, the company will be adding additional expertise to AOL’s growing technology assets.
When the deal closes, which it’s expected to close this fall, then Millennial Media will become a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL. Some of Millennial’s portfolio of assets includes Nexage, TapMetrics, Metaresolver and Condaptive.
Verizon, the largest wireless carrier in America, bought AOL in June for more than $4 billion. The deal helped Verizon become the largest provider of content and video for the web and for mobile phones.
