Perion Network, the Israeli advertising technology company listed on Nasdaq and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, today agreed to be acquired by Affle, a mobile advertising group whose parent company trades in India, in an all-cash deal that values Perion's equity at about $420 million. Shareholders will receive $11.70 for each share, a premium of 34.5% to the closing price on October 30, 2026, the last trading day before the agreement was signed. Perion's board approved the agreement unanimously, but it also kept a door open: for the next 40 days, Perion and its financial adviser can actively solicit a better offer from anyone else.

In Short

A mobile advertising company called Affle has agreed to buy Perion, an ad tech company that runs ads on connected TVs, digital billboards and store screens, for $11.70 a share in cash. Advertisers, agencies and retailers that use Perion's tools will end up working with a company owned by a much larger mobile ad group, although Perion keeps its own name. Perion can still look for a higher offer until December 11, and if nothing changes, the sale is expected to close in early 2027.

The terms

According to Perion, the agreement was reached with Affle 3iL Ltd., a subsidiary of Affle International Pte. Ltd. The boilerplate and the cautionary statement in the same announcement refer instead to Affle 3i Limited, the listed parent, which trades on the National Stock Exchange of India under the symbol AFFLE and on the BSE under the code 542752. The mechanics are described only in the cautionary language: a subsidiary of Affle will merge with and into Perion, and Perion will survive as a subsidiary of Affle's subsidiary. Once the transaction closes, Perion becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Affle and "will continue to operate under the Perion brand," according to the announcement.

The price is $11.70 per share in cash. Perion puts the equity value at approximately $420 million. Taken together, those two figures imply roughly 35.9 million shares, a PPC Land calculation; the announcement does not give a share count or explain how options and restricted shares are treated. The 34.5% premium implies an October 30 closing price of about $8.70, also a PPC Land calculation.

Financing is not a condition of the deal. Debt financing "in support of the transaction is being provided by Citibank, N.A.," according to Perion, and "the transaction is not subject to a financing condition." That second sentence matters for shareholders weighing the offer: Affle's obligation to complete the deal does not depend on the loan arriving.

More than half the price is already in the bank

The most revealing number in the announcement is not the price. As of September 30, 2026, Perion had cash and cash equivalents, short-term bank deposits and marketable securities of $228.3 million. That is about 54% of the $420 million equity value. On that basis, Affle is paying roughly $192 million for the operating business itself, before any adjustment for liabilities the announcement does not detail. All of these figures are PPC Land calculations.

The cash pile has been shrinking all year, and the reasons are on the record. Perion ended 2025 with $312.9 million, a figure reported when the company filed its 2025 annual report in March. The balance fell to $293.0 million by March 31 and to $267.8 million by June 30, when Perion reported no debt. During the third quarter, according to today's announcement, Perion used $26.0 million on share repurchases and $10.9 million to acquire PRN, the in-store advertising network.

Add up the buybacks of $24.1 million in the first quarter, $24.5 million in the second and $26.0 million in the third, plus the PRN payment, and the total comes to $85.5 million. The cash balance fell by $84.6 million over the same nine months. Buybacks and one acquisition, in other words, account for the entire decline, which leaves the rest of the business roughly cash-neutral over the nine months taken together. Those totals are also PPC Land's arithmetic.

There is a second angle on the buybacks. In the second quarter, Perion bought back 2.7 million shares at an average of $9.12, and by June 30 it had repurchased 18.0 million shares for $166.8 million under a $200 million program, according to its second-quarter results. Adding the $26.0 million spent in the third quarter leaves about $7.2 million of that authorization unused. The $11.70 offer is about 28% above the second-quarter average repurchase price. Shareholders who held on through the buyback program are being bought out above the price at which the company itself was buying.

Perion's own guidance gives another reference point. In August, Perion guided to 2026 adjusted EBITDA of $51 million to $53 million. Net of the September cash, the deal values the operating business at about 3.7 times the midpoint of that range. Perion has not yet published its third-quarter results, and the announcement contains no updated outlook, so that multiple rests on a forecast that may have moved.

Forty days to find a better offer

The agreement includes what is known as a go-shop period. Under it, Perion and its financial adviser may "actively solicit and consider alternative acquisition proposals" for 40 days. The window closes at 11:59 PM local time in Israel on December 11, 2026.

A go-shop is the opposite of the more common no-shop clause, which bars a target from seeking rival bids after it signs. It gives a board that has negotiated with a single buyer a chance to test the market after the price is public. Perion's announcement is careful about expectations: "There can be no assurance that this process will result in a superior proposal," it says, and the company "does not intend to disclose developments with respect to the 'go-shop' process unless and until it determines such disclosure is appropriate or is otherwise required."

The cautionary statement also mentions circumstances "which would require a party to pay a termination fee." Neither the size of that fee nor whether a lower fee applies to a bidder who emerges during the go-shop is disclosed. Those numbers usually appear in the merger agreement itself or in the proxy materials sent to shareholders, and they determine how expensive it would be for a rival to step in.

What has to happen before closing

Perion expects the transaction to be completed in early 2027. Three things stand in the way, according to the announcement:

  • approval by Perion's shareholders;
  • the expiry or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, the US merger review regime;
  • "other closing conditions," which are not listed.

When the deal closes, Perion's ordinary shares will no longer be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market or the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Canaccord Genuity is Perion's exclusive financial adviser and Meitar Law Offices is its legal counsel. LUMA Partners is advising Affle on the financial side, with Barnea Jaffa Lande & Co. as legal counsel.

The risk factors attached to the announcement are standard for a pending merger, with a few that reflect Perion's location. They cite "the current war between Israel and Hamas and other armed groups in the region" and "armed conflicts with Iran and other parties," alongside "the impact of the rapid development and broad adoption of generative AI on our business" and the risk that shareholder litigation over the deal could "result in significant costs of defense, indemnification and liability." The cautionary language also refers to "the Forecasts," even though the announcement itself contains no forecasts.

What the executives said

Tal Jacobson, Perion's chief executive, framed the sale as the result of a turnaround. "Over the past several years, we have transformed Perion into a differentiated advertising technology company, driven by the strength of our team, technological innovation, and our focus on measurable business outcomes for advertisers," he said. He pointed to Perion One and Outmax, the company's AI agent, and described Affle as having "established a strong position in mobile performance, supported by an experienced team, global reach, and a focus on measurable results."

"Throughout this process, our focus remains on executing our strategy, supporting our people, and delivering for the customers and partners who rely on us," Jacobson added.

Eyal Kaplan, chairman of Perion's board, put the emphasis on certainty. "We believe the proposed transaction offers compelling value and greater financial certainty for Perion's shareholders, while providing a strong foundation for the company's future," he said. The phrase "greater financial certainty" is notable. It implies that the board weighed a fixed cash price today against the uncertain value of continuing as a small listed company.

Anuj Khanna Sohum, chairperson, managing director and chief executive of Affle, described the logic from the buyer's side. "The combination of Affle's strong leadership in mobile marketing with Perion's established presence across Retail Media, CTV, DOOH and other digital channels will enable us to drive greater synergies across the omnichannel consumer journey on intelligent connected devices," he said. He named e-commerce, retail and healthcare as target verticals and closed with the line that explains the geography of the deal: "This is an important step in strengthening our CPCU business across Developed Markets and advancing our 10X decadal growth vision."

Who Affle is

Affle is less familiar to Western marketers than the brands it owns. According to the company's website, it was founded in 2005, completed its initial public offering in India on August 8, 2019, operates in more than 30 countries with more than 650 employees, and works in more than 35 languages. Its stated presence includes the United States, Spain, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, India, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Brazil and Argentina. Sohum has led the company as founder since 2005.

The company describes itself as "a global technology company enabling verticalized AI-led consumer conversions for advertisers globally, powered by the differentiated CPCU business model across Mobile, CTV and other agentic/autonomous intelligent connected devices (AICDs)." CPCU is Affle's abbreviation for cost per converted user. Under that model, Affle is paid when a user converts, for example by installing an app or completing a transaction, rather than for impressions served. Affle also says its algorithms work through "deep human-vs-non-human data distillation," a phrase that refers to separating human users from bot traffic.

Affle has grown largely by acquisition. Its corporate milestones list the purchases of Vizury, Shoffr and RevX between 2016 and 2019, and Appnext and mediasmart in the 2020 to 2024 period. Its management team includes chief executives for RevX and YouAppi and a chief technology officer for mediasmart. AdColony, the mobile ad SDK, now carries the banner "AdColony is now part of Affle" on its website, which promises publishers "priority access" to "Affle's DSPs, including Jampp, RevX, and YouAppi."

That list matters for buyers. Jampp, RevX and YouAppi are app-focused demand-side platforms, the software advertisers use to bid for impressions. Perion, by contrast, built most of its recent growth on screens that are not phones.

The management page also shows how Affle divides its business. Several executives carry titles covering "India & Emerging Markets," and there is a separate chief executive for North America. Sohum's reference to "Developed Markets" points to the gap Perion fills: a buyer organized around India and emerging markets is paying for a company whose recent deals, from Best Buy Canada to PRN's North American store network, sit in developed markets.

There is already an Israeli connection. YouAppi's chief executive, Nisan Schitrit, and several of its product and partnership leaders sit on Affle's management team, and Israel is listed among Affle's locations.

What Affle is buying

Perion's recent history is a story of a company replacing one revenue stream with several others. For years, a large share of its income came from search advertising tied to Microsoft Bing. In 2024, Microsoft changed its search distribution marketplace, and Perion's revenue for the second quarter of 2024 fell 39% to $108.7 million, with search advertising revenue down 57%.

Perion had already moved into outdoor advertising. In December 2023, it acquired Hivestack, a programmatic platform for screens in public places, for $100 million in cash, plus a three-year retention and performance plan of up to $25 million. In February 2025, Perion folded its technologies and brands into a single platform called Perion One, with Hivestack as the technical foundation. Perion's website now describes the result as "The Marketing Operating System for Advertising that Performs," with channels including CTV, digital out-of-home, audio, in-store retail media, YouTube, Meta, TikTok, websites and search engines, and separate tools for media owners such as supply orchestration and auction optimization.

The numbers show both sides of the transition. Full-year 2025 revenue fell 12% to $439.9 million, while CTV revenue rose 42% to $62.1 million, DOOH revenue 36% to $94.9 million and retail media revenue 36% to $109.9 million; search fell 44% to $91 million. In the first quarter of 2026, revenue rose 1% to $90.4 million, but adjusted EBITDA was just $0.5 million.

The second quarter was harder. Revenue fell 5% to $98.2 million and adjusted EBITDA dropped 61% to $2.8 million, as declines in open-web display outweighed growth elsewhere. Channel spend through the platform moved the other way: DOOH spend rose 45% to $87.7 million, retail media spend 60% to $59.4 million, CTV spend 56% to $17.7 million and spend through Outmax 136% to $12.0 million.

The physical store bet

Why would a mobile performance company want screens in warehouse clubs? The pieces Perion added in 2026 are mostly about physical retail. In June, Best Buy Canada chose Perion to run programmatic advertising across 308 stores, supplying an ad server, a supply-side platform and header bidding technology for the retailer's retail media network. In August, Perion agreed to buy PRN for up to $12 million in cash, adding screens in more than 750 warehouse club locations, more than 4,500 big-box stores and more than 2,200 healthcare stores in North America. Perion said PRN would contribute about $3 million of adjusted EBITDA in 2027 before synergies.

That retail footprint is what Sohum's quote leans on. A mobile ad group that is paid on conversions has data about what people do on their phones. A network of screens at warehouse clubs and pharmacies puts ads near the point of purchase. Whether the two can be linked for measurement, and under what privacy rules, is not addressed in the announcement.

Outmax

The other asset Jacobson named is Outmax, Perion's AI agent for running campaigns across channels. Perion has published client results for it. One case cited in its 2025 annual report showed a CTV advertiser's cost per action falling from $4.61 to $0.53 over four weeks, and in May Perion reported that Bouygues Telecom had cut fiber-to-the-home acquisition costs by 34% using Outmax on Meta campaigns. Outmax remains small in spend terms: $12.0 million of spend in the second quarter, against $194.7 million of total spend.

Why this matters for the market

The deal is the latest in a year of consolidation in advertising technology, and the pattern is consistent: buyers are paying cash premiums for listed companies. In May, Publicis agreed to buy LiveRamp for $2.5 billion at $38.50 a share, a 30% premium. In July, Vista Equity and Quinti Capital were reported to have offered a premium of more than 50% for Criteo. In August, Nielsen agreed to buy DoubleVerify for $13.60 a share, an enterprise value of about $2.15 billion and a 30% premium to the 60-day volume-weighted average price, with closing also expected by the first quarter of 2027.

Perion's 34.5% premium sits in the same range as those deals, although, unlike the DoubleVerify figure, it is measured against a single day's close rather than an average. The difference is the buyer. Publicis and Nielsen are established names to Western advertisers. Affle is a mobile performance group listed in India, buying a business with heavy exposure to North American retailers and outdoor media owners.

For the customers, several practical questions follow. Advertisers and agencies buying DOOH through Perion's platform, media owners using its supply tools, and retailers such as Best Buy Canada and PRN's partners will be working with a company owned by a group whose own DSPs, Jampp, RevX and YouAppi, are built around app installs and conversions. The announcement says Perion will keep its brand. It does not say whether Perion's technology will be merged with Affle's DSPs, whether customer contracts carry change-of-control provisions, or what happens to Perion's staff in Israel and elsewhere. Jacobson's statement mentions "supporting our people" but gives no detail.

For investors, the immediate question is whether the go-shop produces anything. Perion's cash, its lack of debt as of June, and its retail media and DOOH assets could interest other buyers. The board has already backed $11.70 unanimously, and Kaplan's words about "greater financial certainty" suggest it sees little reason to wait. The window closes on December 11, although Perion has said it will not necessarily report on the process while it runs.

Timeline

Summary

Who: Perion Network, the Israeli ad tech company listed on Nasdaq and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, led by chief executive Tal Jacobson and chairman Eyal Kaplan; and Affle, through Affle 3iL Ltd., a subsidiary of Affle International Pte. Ltd., part of the India-listed Affle 3i Limited led by Anuj Khanna Sohum.

What: A definitive merger agreement under which Affle will buy Perion for $11.70 a share in cash, an equity value of about $420 million and a 34.5% premium to the October 30 close. The deal includes a 40-day go-shop, is backed by Citibank debt financing with no financing condition, and will end Perion's stock market listings. Perion held $228.3 million in cash and securities on September 30.

When: Announced today. The go-shop ends at 11:59 PM Israel time on December 11, 2026, and closing is expected in early 2027.

Where: Announced from New York and Tel Aviv. Perion's shares trade on Nasdaq and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange; Affle's parent trades on the National Stock Exchange of India and the BSE. US antitrust clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act is required.

Why: Affle wants Perion's position in retail media, CTV and DOOH to expand its conversion-based mobile business in developed markets, according to Sohum. Perion's board says the cash offer gives shareholders "compelling value and greater financial certainty" after two years in which the company replaced its Microsoft Bing search income with outdoor, retail and CTV advertising while profits fell.