Magnite Closes $1.1B SpotX Acquisition

Magnite today closed its previously-announced acquisition of SpotX from RTL Group, creating the largest independent CTV and video advertising platform, and reinforcing the company’s capabilities as linear TV budgets increasingly shift to digital.

Buyers and sellers have long wanted a scaled, independent alternative to the giants that currently dominate the CTV marketplace. The combination of Magnite and SpotX makes this a reality, according to Magnite, and “better positions the company to help its clients grow their businesses across CTV and all other formats including video, display and audio.”

“Scale and reaching the largest possible audience is the name of the game when attracting the demand our CTV and video clients need,” said Michael Barrett, Magnite president-CEO. “Acquiring SpotX positions us to become the world’s largest, independent source of highly-coveted CTV and video inventory. Two-thirds of our revenue is now concentrated in the fastest-growing segments of the market, and as linear TV dollars move to CTV, the greatest opportunity is still ahead of us.”

Mike Shehan, SpotX co-founder and CEO, said: “We’re thrilled to become a part of the Magnite family. CTV viewership and the ecosystem around it continues to evolve with new streaming services popping up every day and advertisers hoping to connect with those audiences. SpotX’s CTV business has experienced significant growth over the past year, and we believe our performance will only accelerate through this combination of resources by delivering even more value to our clients.”

The combined company’s clients now include A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Crackle, Discovery, Fox, fuboTV, LG, Roku, Samsung, Sling TV and Vizio.

The final purchase price of the transaction consists of $640 million in cash and 12,374,315 shares of Magnite stock, resulting in a total purchase price of approximately $1.14 billion based on Thursday’s closing stock price.

Magnite continues to target in excess of $35 million in run-rate operating cost synergies, with more than half of the synergies realized within the first year of combined operations.