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.
It's a great exit, but I'd love to know where the valuation came from (without having to read your 'bubble' post).
AdMob has worked wonders for the viability of the mobile web, and I'd certainly thank them for handsomely covering all my mobile site hosting bills.
But this is seriously big money – not much less than half what they paid for YouTube. This for a company who has a humble site network of, mostly, a long tail nature, and an even more humble ad inventory.
Google's been embarrassed – and paid over the odds to a) not be shown up any more, and b) show they are, yes, yes, *really* serious about mobile – especially as Android changes gear and they want a credible ad story to back that up.
I can only value it as bet on mobile alone.
Google buys AdMob for $750m http://bit.ly/182qgw RT@Ew4n #google #admob
Google buys AdMob for $750m http://bit.ly/182qgw RT@Ew4n #google #admob
Google buys AdMob for $750m – http://tinyurl.com/yees3zu