• by Laurie Sullivan , Yesterday

Criteo has been building its advertising business and partner network for years. Two companies -- an equity firm and an investment firm -- are now showing interest in taking it over. 

Vista Equity Partners and the investment firm Quinti Capital have teamed up with a bid to take over the French advertising-technology company. 

The firms recently submitted a bid for Criteo that valued the company at more than a 50% premium to its share price in recent weeks, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The details of the bid are not yet public.

"As a matter of policy, we do not comment on market rumors or speculation," a Criteo spokesperson told MediaPost.

With an acquisition, brands and advertisers could see a shift in higher advertising costs through different types of ad units and services. Equity and investment takeovers typically signal operational restructuring.

Criteo generated $1.9 billion in annual revenue in the most recent reporting cycle, and currently serves approximately 17,000 global clients, according to company documents.

Its advertising services closes the gap between searches and direct ecommerce actions supported by first-party data. The company acts as a massive independent commerce platform allowing brands to bypass standard ad networks and place hypertargeted ads at the point of sale.

Criteo spent years undergoing a massive transformation, shifting its core business away from third-party cookie-dependent retargeting to become the dominant independent powerhouse in retail media. 

Its entry into retail media was primarily driven by the 2016 acquisition of HookLogic, as part of the company's expansion into product listings and retail merchandise catalogs.

While the acquisition of HookLogic established the company's performance marketing exchange, Criteo later grew these capabilities through the 2018 purchase of Storetail and the 2021 acquisition of Mabaya.

Then Criteo moved rapidly into artificial intelligence (AI), which led it to work with Best Buy, Walmart, Target and many other retailers. It became OpenAI’s first advertising- technology partner. 

In another major move, Criteo recently expanded its Criteo GO platform, offering full self-service ad-buying capabilities for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) to grow performance advertising across channels, including Meta and video inventory.

Its AI-powered self-service performance ad platform for SMBs added ChatGPT Ads inventory, allowing SMBs to run ads offered by OpenAI's platform. About 2,000 brands now advertise on ChatGPT through Criteo since the ad-tech partner began working with OpenAI.

Criteo’s American depository receipts on Monday rose 18% to $22.49 at 2:36 p.m. in New York trading, giving the company a market value of about $1.1 billion.

The company's securities have fallen 9% in the past year, Bloomberg reported.