What happened to Outbrain and Teads?
Outbrain bought Teads, closing the deal in February 2025 for about $900 million in cash and stock, according to the company, and in June 2025 renamed the combined company Teads, trading on Nasdaq under the ticker TEAD. The merger joined Outbrain's content-recommendation performance business with Teads' branding and video advertising business.
Outbrain was best known for content recommendation widget widgets ("around the web" links under articles), which rely on native advertising. Teads, previously owned by Altice, specialized in outstream video and CTV. The combined firm pitched itself as an omnichannel outcomes platform for the open web.
The deal is part of a wave of consolidation among open-web ad tech firms under pressure from walled gardens, signal loss and falling search referral traffic.