Taboola buys Connexity for $800 million

Taboola this week announced it will buy Connexity for approximately $800 million. Connexity is a e-Commerce media platform, serving over 1,600 direct merchants, and 6,000 publishers.

Acccording to Taboola, merchants active in Connexity include Walmart, Wayfair, Skechers, Macy’s, eBay and Otto. Connexity network reahc more than 100 million unique users per month, on publishers including Condé Nast, DotDash, Hearst, Vox Media, Meredith, and News Corp Australia. Right now, Taboola is reacching 500 million active users per day in their recommendation network.

“We’re so excited to welcome the Connexity team to our Taboola family, today is a big day,” said Adam Singolda, CEO and founder, Taboola. “The rise of social commerce proves the value of commerce alongside content, and with Connexity, Taboola is primed to bring this value to the open web. e-Commerce is the future of the open web, consumers will be buying outside of Amazon, on publishers’ sites next to trusted editorial content a lot more than they are today. Amazon has millions of merchants, but merchants mainly have Amazon. That changes today. Combining Taboola and Connexity’s technologies is one step forward in creating an alternative to walled gardens.”

Taboola says Connexity enables publishers to integrate more than 750 million product offers on their websites, providing a new revenue stream.

The acquisition of Connexity adds over 200 people to Taboola, bringing the number of total employees to approximately 1,600. Bill Glass, Connexity CEO, and the Connexity management team will lead a new formed business unit at Taboola.

Connexity bought Skimlinks in 2020, a monetization solution for commerce-oriented publishers. In total, Connexity generated $176 million of revenue in 2020, already with Skimlinks integrated.

Taboola will pay for Connexity approximately $260 million from cash on hand, $300 million from committed debt financing and approximately $240 million through the issuance of ordinary shares to the seller. Connexity is owned by Symphony Technology Group (STG).