Connexity Acquires Skimlinks As Affiliate Marketing Consolidation Continues

Connexity on Thursday announced the acquisition of Skimlinks, which helps to monetize commerce for publishers such as Conde Nast, Hearst, and Yahoo.  

“We had two really explosive years of growth and we were looking to accelerate that and provide more opportunities for retailers,” said Bill Glass, Connexity CEO. “One way to do that is to look for acquisitions.”

Combined, the companies will bring in more than $200 million in revenue and profitable in 2020, which is significantly higher than last year, Glass said. The company is getting a push from tailwinds because of pandemic trends with so much shopping is online. Some of the growth might be temporary, he said, but time will tell.

The deal creates the largest independent customer acquisition channel for ecommerce that adds thousands of new publishers focused on retail, Glass said. The combined reach of the companies will drive nearly $2.5 billion in commerce annually through lead generation and other performance strategies.

“The plan is to operate separately, but in time the two will integrate to make life easier for retailers and publishers,” Glass said. “The benefit is bringing big-branded publishers into the Connexity network.”

Skimlinks CEO Sebastien Blanc will report to Glass. The company will run as a separate business, but as a Connexity company.

Connexity has a long history in performance marketing, as it transitioned from Bizrate to Shopzilla. Now -- as Connexity since 2014 -- it also offers an enterprise publisher network, a social influencer platform, and a host of other channels to help retailers find new customers.

Glass initiated the conversation with Blanc well before the start of COVID-19, but most of the acquisition was completed via video-conference calls.

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