Criteo is holding M&A discussions with Skai to bolster its retail media play

Skai appointed bankers to solicit offers earlier this year with one source familiar with the developments, who requested anonymity in return for candor, informing Digiday that it has primarily spoken with strategic players. “The EBITDA and growth of Skai is impressive,” noted the source, who later went on to estimate that the Israel-based company would eventually sell for “north of $500 million.” 

When Digiday contacted Criteo’s corporate communications team for comment, the team noted its policy not to discuss such market reports. Meanwhile, Skai’s PR agency declined comment per its client’s policy.*

When Skai was founded in 2006, it was known as Kenshoo. Subsequently, it built up a reputation in the performance marketing sector. In 2021, it rebranded to Skai to reflect its own evolution following the earlier purchase of Signals Analytics.

The purchase of Signals Analytics was geared toward helping the company, which raised $60 million in multiple funding rounds prior to an undisclosed 2016 venture round, accelerate its e-commerce capabilities, according to Crunchbase.

Such e-commerce capabilities would likely prove attractive to Criteo whose chief executive Meghan Clarken has put retail media front and center of the France-headquartered company’s turnaround strategy since she joined in 2020.

Clarken joined as the company, long-known as an ad retargeting company that was heavily reliant on third-party cookies, saw its stock price heavily impacted by the gradual erosion of remarketing tools on the open web by platforms such as Apple and Google. 

Clarken’s strategy has involved several acquisitions, notably last year’s purchase of BrandCrush, a deal that followed its deals to buy Mabaya and IPONWEB in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Despite Google’s recent departure from its initially stated aim of wholesale deprecating third-party cookies in its web browser, Google Chrome, helping brands target ads on retail media sites is still at the core of Criteo’s strategy.

In early July, Criteo announced a tie-up with Microsoft Advertising that will see the Big Tech behemoth bring its “extensive demand” to its global network of 225 retailers as the pair aims to ease advertisers’ frustration with the $150 billion retail media landscape. As part of the tie-up, Microsoft Advertising also intends to work with Criteo as its preferred onsite media partner to create “an even more unified retail media ecosystem.”

According to separate sources, the addition of Skai, whose competencies include helping brands navigate walled gardens, to the Criteo technology stack would (theoretically) further help the company realign its measurement capabilities to demonstrate incrementality measurement. 

After a quiet few years for mergers and acquisitions in the ad tech sector, the number of deals is starting to increase. Outbrain recently confirmed its $1 billion purchase of Teads, following earlier reports that Connatix and JW Player are also in talks to merge, among other similar developments.   

* Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Skai’s PR agency did not respond to requests for comment.