Twitter to sell MoPub mobile ad unit for $ 1 billion

Oct. 6 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell mobile advertising company MoPub to AppLovin Corp (APP.O) for $ 1.05 billion in cash, with the microblogging platform seeking to focus more on ads on own app and website.

MoPub, which generated roughly $ 188 million in annual revenue for Twitter last year, allows businesses to track ad inventory in real time, much like Google (GOOGL.O) DoubleClick.

“The sale of MoPub allows us to further focus our efforts on the enormous potential of the ads on our website and in our apps,” said Twitter CFO Ned Segal.

Twitter said on Wednesday it would focus on its core business by accelerating the development of new products and features to meet its goal of doubling revenue in 2023 to $ 7.5 billion.

The MoPub deal comes months after Apple updated its mobile operating system that powers iPhones and iPads to make it difficult for digital advertisers, including social media platforms and mobile game developers, to track users on Apple mobile devices. Read more

The sale will allow Twitter to invest in “the commodities that position it for long-term growth,” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said on Wednesday.

The social media company bought MoPub for almost $ 350 million in 2013.

This year, Twitter struck a series of deals with private tech companies, including the podcast app Breaker and email newsletter startup Revue, as it seeks to meet its revenue target for 2023. Read more the following

The sale to AppLovin was unanimously approved by Twitter’s board of directors.

AppLovin, which recently went public in April, is a mobile games company with a portfolio that includes over 200 free mobile games, such as “Word Connect”, “Slap Kings” and “Bingo Story”.

Shares of the company were up 9% to $ 84 in extended trading, while Twitter was up 2% to $ 62.57.

Reporting by Manas Mishra, Subrat Patnaik and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta

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