Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Criteo is paying $250 million to buy e-commerce ad firm HookLogic

Like Google product listing ads, but for e-commerce sites.

Jason Del Rey
Jason Del Rey has been a business journalist for 15 years and has covered Amazon, Walmart, and the e-commerce industry for the last decade. He was a senior correspondent at Vox.

HookLogic, a startup that helps consumer brands place ads on e-commerce sites, has agreed to sell for $250 million to publicly traded ad-tech firm Criteo.

HookLogic works with retailers like Walmart, Target, Costco and Best Buy to sell sponsored ad placements on their web pages when shoppers search for a product on their sites. Consumer brands bid to place these cost-per-click ads across HookLogic’s network of e-commerce sites.

Whereas retailers buy Google Product Listing Ads to drive traffic to their sites, brands buy HookLogic ads to drive traffic to their specific products within an e-commerce site. HookLogic shares the ad revenue it collects with the e-commerce sites it partners with.

Code Commerce Series Returns to Las Vegas at Money20/20

Find out where retail and e-commerce are headed.

In an investor slide presentation, Criteo said it believes the deal will help it acquire new consumer-brand advertising customers that currently do business with HookLogic. Criteo also expects to help HookLogic expand the number of retailer websites on which it can place ads.

HookLogic expects to record gross revenue of $130 million in 2016, according to the investor presentation, more than double last year’s total. HookLogic CEO Jonathan Opdyke and his exec team will join Criteo in the deal.

The privately held company had raised around $40 million in venture funding from firms like Bain Capital Ventures, Fung Capital USA, Intel Capital and Mousse Partners. The deal is expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter of this year.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh