AOL is making a huge bet on the European online marketing potential and is offering to buy TradeDoubler, a Sweden-based European provider of online marketing and sales solutions, for a total of $900 million. The deal is subject to shareholder approval, and Arctic Ventures the 20 percent owner, has and others making up about 20 percent of the outstanding shares, have already indicated consent to the deal.
The company acquisition will help AOL sell more advertising online through its European sites. “With AOL and Advertising.com, we have built a robust online advertising business in Europe, and TradeDoubler will help us accelerate the growth of this business,” said Jeff Bewkes, President of Time Warner, in a statement.
Founded in 1999 and public since the completion of its IPO in 2005, TradeDoubler has a presence in 17 other markets besides Sweden, with customers including Dell, The Apple Store, Svenska Spel and Telia. Lots more details on the offer in the release.
This comes after AOL has been selling off its European access businesses in favor of focusing on its online portals in these countries.