ClickBait GiantsTaboola & Outbrain Call Off Their $850M Merger

Taboola’s deal to acquire Outbrain has been called off, people familiar with the matter said, putting an end to an attempt to combine the internet’s two largest content-recommendation companies, reported the Wall Street Journal. 

Under the deal agreement, which was struck last October, Outbrain shareholders were to receive US$250 million in cash and 30% of the combined company. A person familiar with the matter said Taboola sought to renegotiate the deal as the coronavirus pandemic affected the business of each company, but the two sides couldn’t come to a new agreement.

Taboola and Outbrain are known for generating the “promoted stories” or “around the web” sections that appear at the bottom of news stories on various websites. The links are often advertisements crafted to resemble news stories.

The Justice Department earlier this year had decided not to challenge the deal. Antitrust authorities in the UK and Israel still have open review processes scrutinizing the deal. UK antitrust officials announced their review this summer after reaching the initial conclusion that the deal could pose anticompetitive harm to publishers.