Magnite Inc. (formerly Rubicon Project) is an American

online advertising Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. ...

technology firm based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. The company was formed following a merger between Rubicon Project and Telaria in 2020.

History

Rubicon Project was founded in 2007 by Frank Addante, Craig Roah, Duc Chau and Julie Mattern, who had previously worked together at L90, an online

advertising network An online advertising network or ad network is a company that connects advertisers to websites that want to host advertisements. The key function of an ad network is an aggregation of ad supply from publishers and matching it with advertiser's d ...

. By April 2009, the company had raised $33 million in venture funding led by

Clearstone Venture Partners Clearstone Venture Partners is an early stage venture capital firm focused on IT investing with offices in Santa Monica, CA, Palo Alto, CA, and Mumbai, India. Founded in 1997, as Idealab Capital Partners, Clearstone is responsible for the earl ...

IDG Ventures IDG Ventures is a global family of venture funds with approximately $3.6 billion under management. All of the funds were originally sole-source-funded by International Data Group. The first fund was created by IDG in 1996 and was located in ...

Asia and

Mayfield Fund Mayfield, also known as Mayfield Fund, is a US-based venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage to growth-stage investments in enterprise and consumer technology companies. Founded in 1969 and based in Menlo Park, California, it is one of S ...

. The company also secured $8 million in venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank. In February 2014, Rubicon Project filed for an

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

and went public in April 2014 opening at over $20 per share. The stock fell back to about $16 per share later in the month. In March 2014, the company was named number two on the top Ad Exchange Entities by comScore. In February 2017, the company released its president and several other top executives. On March 14, 2017, CEO and founder Frank Addante stepped down from his position to take the role of chairman. The company announced Michael Barrett, previously the chief executive of mobile advertising marketplace

Millennial Media One by AOL, formerly known as Millennial Media, is an advertising company that places display ads on mobile devices ( mobile marketing). History One by AOL was founded as Millennial Media in May 2006 by Paul Palmieri Paul Palmieri may refer ...

and chief revenue officer at

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds ma ...

, would be the new chief executive.

Merger with Telaria

In December 2019, Rubicon Project and Telaria announced a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

. Shareholders of Telaria and Rubicon project approved the merger on March 30, 2020, and the merger was completed on April 1. While the two businesses initially fell under Rubicon Project and operated as two separate brands, the company rebranded under the name Magnite in June 2020. The merger made Magnite the world's largest independent omnichannel

sell-side platform A supply-side platform (SSP) or sell-side platform is a technology platform to enable web publishers and digital out-of-home (DOOH) media owners to manage their advertising inventory, fill it with ads, and receive revenue. Many of the larger web p ...

Acquisition of SpotX

In February 2021, Magnite acquired SpotX from European entertainment network RTL Group for $1.17 billion in cash and stock.

Previous Rubicon Project Acquisitions

In September 2009, the Rubicon Project acquired OthersOnline, an audience profiling technology company based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. In May 2010, the company bought Site Scout, a

malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, de ...

detection company also based in Seattle. In October 2010, the company acquired Fox Audience Network from

News Corp News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the original News Corporation, it was formed on June 28, 2013, following a ...

in return for a minority stake in the company. It also received $18 million in additional funding led by Peacock Equity, the venture division of

NBC Universal The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. In May 2012, the company acquired Mobsmith, a mobile technology company. In August 2012, the company became the top-ranked online advertising company in terms of reach, with a 96.2% audience share, according to rankings provided by ComScore. This placed Rubicon ahead of

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

for the first time, and also ahead of other competitors such as

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

and

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

. In July 2013, the company expanded its executive ranks with the addition of 10 senior people.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Companies based in Los Angeles Online advertising Digital marketing companies of the United States Online advertising services and affiliate networks 2014 initial public offerings

History

Merger with Telaria

Acquisition of SpotX

Previous Rubicon Project Acquisitions

See also

References