Adcolony and its mobile video ad network has been acquired by Swedish software company Opera.
In a statement released to the Norwegian stock market, Opera revealed it had bought Adcolony for an initial $75 million. Additional earnouts of $275 million could potentially bring the total value of the sale to $350 million.
Given the eventual rollout of 4G services globally, Opera Software CEO, Lars Boilesen, felt that mobile video advertising was likely to be a considerable growth market for Opera Mediaworks.
“AdColony is a natural fit for Opera and our mobile advertising subsidiary, Opera Mediaworks,” he said. “This acquisition will augment our services with a robust specialisation around mobile video – the fastest growing segment within the mobile advertising industry.”
Low latency
HD video ads can be delivered to iOS or Android smartphone and tablet apps across the world through Adcolony’s Instant-Play, while there is said to be little in the way of latency and load times.
There will be very little change in Adcolony’s infrastructure as Will Kassoy will continue in his role as company CEO, but he will also take on a new chief marketing officer position at Opera Mediaworks.
Opera expects the two companies to be able to reach more than 700 million consumers globally once the acquisition closes in the third quarter of 2014.