Twitter Sells Mobile Ad Platform MoPub

Twitter has announced it is selling the mobile advertising exchange MoPub, so that the microblogging platform can invest in other products.

It was back in September 2013 when Twitter confirmed it had acquired mobile advertising exchange MoPub, as Twitter at the time sought to expand its revenue-generating capabilities ahead of its stock market flotation.

The sale price was not disclosed back in 2013, but a number of media outlets valued the deal at 16 million Twitter shares, or between $300m to $400m.

MoPub sale

MoPub had been founded back in 2010 ago by Bryan Atwood, Nafis Jamal and Jim Payne, who acted as chief executive.

All three were previously colleagues at AdMob, the mobile advertising network bought by Google for $750m in 2009, and which became MoPub’s biggest competitor.

Now eight years after acquiring the operation, Twitter has agreed to sell MoPub to AppLovin for $1.05 billion in cash.

The transaction will enable Twitter to accelerate the development of owned and operated revenue products and drive growth across key areas for the service including performance-based advertising, small and medium-sized business (SMB) offerings, and commerce initiatives, said the firm.

“This transaction increases our focus and demonstrates confidence in our revenue product roadmap, accelerating our ability to invest in the core products that position Twitter for long-term growth and best serve the public conversation,” said Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO.

“We thank the incredible teams and customers who have contributed to making MoPub a success within Twitter over the years,” he added.

“The sale of MoPub positions us to concentrate more of our efforts on the massive potential for ads on our website and in our apps,” added Ned Segal, Twitter CFO.

In 2020, MoPub generated approximately $188 million in annual revenue.

There is no word on possible job losses.

Twitter reasoning?

The reason for the sale of MoPub can perhaps be gleaned from Dorsey’s comment that it “demonstrates confidence in our revenue product roadmap.”

It should be remembered that Twitter last month offered $809.5 million to settle a shareholder class action lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which was filed back in September 2016, accused the microblogging platform of deceiving investors about how many people used the service.

Also, the MoPub sale comes months after Apple updated its iPhone operating system to make it hard for digital advertisers, including social media platforms and mobile game developers, to track users on Apple mobile devices.

Earlier this week a financial analyst speculated that the anti-tracking changes recently introduced by Apple to its iPhone, could signal that the company is working on an advertising platform of its own.