Who owns who?
Ad tech is a web of mergers, buyouts and rebrands. Ten questions on who bought whom, checked against deals through 2025. intermediate · 10 questions
Question 1 of 10Score 0
Who bought Xandr, the ad tech business formerly known as AppNexus, from AT&T?
All questions with answers
- Who bought Xandr, the ad tech business formerly known as AppNexus, from AT&T?
Answer: Microsoft. Microsoft acquired Xandr from AT&T in a deal announced in December 2021 and closed in 2022. AT&T had bought AppNexus in 2018 and renamed it Xandr. See ad exchange. - Magnite, the large independent SSP, was formed by combining which two companies?
Answer: Rubicon Project and Telaria. Rubicon Project merged with Telaria in 2020 and renamed itself Magnite, later adding SpotX. It is a classic case of SSP consolidation. - Which agency holding company acquired Interpublic Group (IPG), closing in November 2025?
Answer: Omnicom. Omnicom completed its all-stock acquisition of IPG on 26 November 2025, creating the largest agency holding company by revenue. WPP and Publicis stayed independent rivals. - Who took verification company Integral Ad Science (IAS) private in 2025?
Answer: Novacap. Canadian private equity firm Novacap completed a roughly $1.9 billion take-private deal of IAS in December 2025. DoubleVerify remains a separate, listed ad verification competitor. - Outbrain acquired Teads in 2025. What happened to the combined company's name?
Answer: Outbrain renamed itself Teads. After closing the deal in February 2025, Outbrain changed its corporate name to Teads and began trading as TEAD on Nasdaq in June 2025. Taboola is a separate content recommendation widget rival. - Which company owns FreeWheel, the TV and video ad platform?
Answer: Comcast. Comcast bought FreeWheel in 2014, and it serves premium video and CTV ads for broadcasters. Roku, Disney and Netflix run their own ad stacks. - Which private equity firm became TripleLift's majority owner in 2021?
Answer: Vista Equity Partners. Vista Equity Partners took a majority stake in TripleLift in 2021, valuing the native advertising and CTV SSP at about $1.4 billion. Novacap is the firm behind the IAS deal. - Google's publisher ad server, now part of Google Ad Manager, came from which acquisition?
Answer: DoubleClick. Google bought DoubleClick in 2008 for about $3.1 billion; DoubleClick for Publishers became the core of Google Ad Manager and a focus of United States v. Google. AdMob was mobile ads and Invite Media a DSP. - Which agency group bought the data and marketing company Epsilon in 2019?
Answer: Publicis Groupe. Publicis Groupe acquired Epsilon for about $4.4 billion, betting on first-party data and identity. It helped reshape how holdcos compete on data rather than just media buying. - Which company completed its acquisition of CTV ad-serving and measurement firm Innovid in February 2025?
Answer: Mediaocean. Mediaocean closed its purchase of Innovid in February 2025, combining it with Flashtalking to build an independent ad server and measurement platform across CTV and digital.