• by Masha Geller , July 1, 2002

L90, Inc. and DoubleClick Inc. today announced that L90 will acquire DoubleClick’s North American Media business for approximately $9.5 million in stock and cash. The transaction is expected to close in early July. The newly consolidated company will be known as MaxWorldwide and will trade on Nasdaq using a new symbol - MAXW.

According to company officials, MaxWorldwide has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire DoubleClick’s North American Media business for 4.8 million shares in MaxWorldwide, which represents 16.1% of the new company, as well as $5 million cash. DoubleClick will also have a right to receive an additional $6 million in the future, contingent upon certain performance conditions being met.

This is the second deal in a year for the two firms. Last October, DoubleClick bought L90's technology assets, and L90 agreed to use DoubleClick's ad-serving technology for five years - a contract MaxWorldwide will continue.

“MaxWorldwide will now be the industry leader in online ad sales representation, bringing together two established marketing pioneers and a dream team of senior executives, the best in the business,” said Mitchell Cannold, who was recently appointed President and CEO of MaxWorldwide.

Upon closing of the deal, DoubleClick’s Chairman Kevin O’Connor is expected to join the Board of MaxWorldwide. Senior members of DoubleClick Media’s management team will also join the new company, which plans to move its corporate base from Los Angeles to New York.

According to company officials, the deal makes MaxWorldwide the largest company in online ad sales and representation, and "will give advertisers a new choice in online marketing services and reach on par with AOL, MSN and Yahoo."

The transaction will also allow DoubleClick to focus on its technology and data marketing products and services, the press release stated. Today's announcement comes as no surprize to analysts, who have long expected DoubleClick to exit the media business and are calling this last sale a "sound move." In early 2001, the company began closing regional ad sales offices in Brazil and Australia, and reorganized its domestic network. In November, DoubleClick sold its European media business to German rival AdLINK. A month later, the company sold its Ad Effectiveness research unit to Dynamic Logic, and in May, the @plan division passed into the hands of NetRatings.

"This transaction will allow DoubleClick to continue to focus on developing the best technology and service solutions to make marketing work better," said Kevin Ryan, CEO of DoubleClick. "It will also ensure that MaxWorldwide will have the scale and focus that it needs to be successful. In addition, MaxWorldwide will become one of DoubleClick's largest ad serving customers in North America.”

Stock analysts at Standard & Poor's said that the sale does not affect DoubleClick's ratings. DoubleClick will host a conference call at 5:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 11, 2002, to discuss second quarter financial results as well as guidance going forward.

In a separate announcement made last Thursday, DoubleClick said it acquired the remaining half of the Abacus Direct Europe business from Claritas Europe, giving it 100% ownership of the data and research business. DoubleClick also owns the Abacus U.S. business, which analyzes customer data to help clients better target their customers. The company said it plans to expand Abacus U.K into other parts of Europe.