RTL Group, the leading European audiovisual group, will sell its US-based SpotX video advertising platform to the American Magnite, for nearly $ 1.2 billion, to “
focus on the European market
”, a- he announced on Friday.
The agreement signed between the two companies provides that Magnite, specialist in digital advertising, pays "
560 million dollars (468 million euros) in cash
" and sells 14 million of its shares, for a total value of "
1, $ 17 billion
”.
SpotX, which RTL Group had fully acquired in 2017, operates in the field of online video advertising aimed at content producers.
RTL Group, owned by the German publishing giant Bertelsmann, realizes with this operation a considerable capital gain, after having bought SpotX for only 230 million euros.
Focus on growing the European market
"
Together, Magnite and SpotX will create the largest video advertising platform on the market
", for its part congratulated the Magnite group on Friday.
For RTL Group, this sale is part of a "
strategy to focus on the growth of the European market in terms of streaming, advertising technology, video and digital audio
", explains its CEO Thomas Rabe, quoted in a communicated.
The Luxembourg-based company says it wants to invest more in the “
personalization and targeting
” of advertisements in Europe, via connected televisions.
In a sluggish advertising market in 2020 due to the health crisis, the arrival on television of targeted advertising thanks to data collected via connected televisions, is seen as a means of generating value in the sector.
RTL Group acquired the British company Yospace in 2019, which is well positioned in this growing market.
The group is also the owner of the French television channel M6, of which it is studying a possible sale, he said at the end of January.
