The last time I met AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui, I asked him when Google was going to buy them. In fact I think I might have asked him this on camera. My memory is rubbish!
Anyway, having raised almost $50m from some Silicon Valley greats, there was really no question that the next step for AdMob was — obviously — Google.
You can read Omar’s public letter here with the news and here’s Google’s reaction.
It’s no surprise whatsoever. Yahoo is limping along and, frankly, there’s not that many other organisations with the direct interest and the cash to spunk three quarters of a billion dollars on AdMob.
Throughout the marketplace there’s been a general recognition — for a while now — that Google has been arsing about with mobile. If you take a look at their existing mobile advertising offering, you’ll see how rubbish it is. Like a 4-year-old knocked it up using their 20% day off from the sand pit.
AdMob and Google = natural fit.
The deal was a forgone conclusion in my mind once they began to hit a billion impressions a month.
Kudos to Omar and the rest of the team at AdMob. It’s a super exit and I’m sure they’ll go on to even greater things at Google and beyond.