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ValueClick acquires Greystripe for $70M to move up in mobile advertising

ValueClick has acquired Greystripe to move up the mobile advertising ladder of success through more brand relationships and immediate scale in the United States.

Under the terms of the transaction, ValueClick has acquired GreyStripe for approximately $70 million in cash. Additionally, for the remainder of 2011, Greystripe is expected to contribute about $24-$26 million in revenue to ValueClick?s consolidated results.

?The acquisition will provide ValueClick immediate scale in the U.S. mobile advertising market, a $1.1 billion market that is expected to nearly double to $2.0 billion by 2013 according to eMarketer,? said Gary Fuges, vice president of investor relations and corporate development at ValueClick, Los Angeles.

ValueClick offers comprehensive services to deliver cost-effective customer acquisition for advertisers and transparent revenue streams for publishers.

Investopedia, Coupon Mountain, SMarter and PriceRunner are some of ValueClick's clients.

Greystripe clients include General Motor Co.'s Buick, Alpine Electronics and Kraft's Miracle Whip.

Mobile acquisition
Mobile advertising is expected to experience major growth this year.

Analysts expect that brands will spend more than $1 billion on display, rich media, search and text ads.

ValueClick is trying to capitalize on the growing spend that is projected for 2011.

With the acquisition, Greystripe?s management team and employee base have been retained by ValueClick, and the business will be run as a wholly-owned subsidiary within ValueClick Media.

Additionally, Michael Chang, CEO of Greystripe will report to Jim Zarley, CEO of ValueClick.
ValueClick also announced that the company generated $115.5 million in revenue for its first quarter.

?Greystripe?s proprietary advertising platform serves billions of rich media impressions to over 30 million users of touch-driven devices through more than 3,500 application titles and mobile websites across all major mobile platforms,? Mr. Fuges said.

?We acquired them because they also have built strong relationships with Fortune 500 advertisers across key brand advertising verticals, including retail, consumer product goods, entertainment, technology, and automotive,? he said.

ValueClick believes that the acquisition will help further cement the company?s stance on mobile advertising.

?We believe mobile advertising is absolutely a serious business,? Mr. Fuges said.