Taboola is Acquiring Connexity For $800M, Bringing e-Commerce Recommendations To The Open Web

The future of the open web is e-Commerce, and that’s where we’re going. 

I’m incredibly excited to announce the next big step in our journey — a definitive agreement to acquire Connexity, one of the largest e-Commerce media platforms on the open web. 

When I first met Bill Glass, Connexity CEO, we talked about their vision for empowering merchants outside of e-Commerce walled gardens, and helping retailers reach new customers on the open web on commerce and news websites. The open web is really important, even essential, because it’s free and diverse and doesn’t belong to any one giant company. It belongs to everyone. 

Bill and team spent over 15 years building Connexity, which now reaches more than 100 million monthly unique shoppers per month, via relationships with premium publishers including Condé Nast, DotDash, Hearst, Vox Media, Meredith, News Corp Australia, and works with more than 1,600 retailers long-term, including companies like Walmart, Wayfair, Skechers, Macy’s, eBay and Otto. 

When Bill and I first met, we immediately connected on two topics. We realized we’re both very passionate about company culture, about creating a place where talented and diverse people could thrive. You can copy anything, a company’s logo, website, or pitch, but you can’t copy a company’s culture. A group of really (really) passionate people working together can change the world. We also share a vision for the open web. Together we imagine an open web that thrives, fueled by e-Commerce. A holistic solution for everyone — it’s Bill’s dream, it’s my dream, and as of today — it’s our dream. 

When Steve, my CFO, and I were on the road meeting investors, we spoke a lot about our growth, one major area being an expansion to recommend anything. One of the most exciting areas was for us e-Commerce, a $35B+ market, and I believe a big part of that market will exist on the open web as a part of publisher’s businesses. 

Together with Connexity, we can achieve our shared dream. Amazon has millions of merchants, but merchants mainly have Amazon. That changes today.

How Connexity became one of the largest e-Commerce media platforms on the open web 

First, by focusing on building an incredible culture, led by Bill and management, where people were excited to innovate, and by being mission driven, to bring the power of e-Commerce to the open web, Connexity became one of the largest e-Commerce media platforms on the open web. It was never easy, but there is so much to be proud of their hard work and the effect they had on merchants, and publishers.  

Connexity helps some of the leading brands and merchants such as Walmart, Wayfair, Skechers, Macy’s, eBay and Otto, to reach their target audience on the open web and helps publishers like Condé Nast, DotDash, Hearst, Vox Media, Meredith, News Corp Australia develop content commerce strategies, surfacing products alongside editorial content. 

They now have over 750M individual merchant product offers, drive 150M high value monthly visits to retailer websites, and generate over 1 million monthly transaction events on publisher sites, Instagram and other social networks, search engines, and more. 

The Connexity team’s success has been driven by innovation, data-driven decision-making, scalable automated solutions, open communication, collaboration and extraordinary perseverance — all values that mirror the values we have at Taboola. It’s truly a perfect fit.

The future of the open web is e-Commerce — and that’s where we’re going  

Our win-win culture, and the way we do business, means that we always want our partner’s businesses, both publishers and advertisers, to succeed and expand. We only grow when they grow. 

By combining our organizations, cultures, massive data, reach, and direct access to publishers, advertisers and merchants — we are making a huge step towards our vision. We’ll be at the forefront of powering recommendations for the open web, behind every merchant in the world, leveraging Taboola to reach their clients outside of the walled gardens. 

Imagine an article about a Star Wars LEGO set; where products like LEGO’s  Millennium Falcon, Yoda or R2-D2 are surfaced alongside content for users to consider buying. Naturally I’m biased, that sounds so beautiful to experience :-). 

Imagine data signals surfaced in real-time to a publisher’s editorial team about what products their readers love, so they can both learn about their loyal readers and consider what new topics to cover. Imagine every merchant in the world, leveraging the clout and trusted environment of the open web to drive growth to their business, outside of the walled gardens. 

I believe that e-Commerce is a critical part of the open web’s future, and together with the superpowers of both Taboola and Connexity combined, we can make that future a reality, making the open web even stronger, starting today.

To the Connexity team and families supporting them, thank you for the hard work that you put into building this incredible company. Today is just the beginning. 

Kind regards, 

— Adam

Founder and CEO, Taboola

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