AppNexus

AppNexus Inc.

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Online advertising
Founded	2007; 17 years ago (2007)
Headquarters	New York City, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Michael Rubenstein (president)
Products	Infrastructure as a service Ad serving Analytics
Number of employees	1000+
Parent	Xandr (2018-present)

Xandr, formerly known as AppNexus, is an American multinational technology company operating a cloud-based software platform that enables and optimizes programmatic online advertising.^[1] Headquartered in the Flatiron District of New York City, the company has 23 offices in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia.^{[citation needed]}

AppNexus offers online auction infrastructure and technology for data management, optimization, financial clearing and support for directly negotiated advertising campaigns. It has both demand-side platform (DSP), supply-side platform (SSP), and ad serving functionalities. It integrates with advertising sources including Google's "Authorized Buyers" ad exchange, Magnite, Pubmatic and other aggregators.^[2][3] It operates out of multiple data centers, including one in Amsterdam serving Europe and the Middle East, in a facility shared with Equinix.^[4]

In June 2018, AT&T announced it was acquiring the company and putting it under its Xandr division as a subsidiary.^[5] AppNexus was reportedly sold for $1.6 billion, while most news outlets speculated the company did not sell for less than $2 billion.^[6]

In October 2019, Xandr purchased Clypd, a privately-held technology company focused on enabling programmatic buying of linear television advertising.^[7]

In December 2021, AT&T announced that they had agreed to sell Xandr to Microsoft for an undisclosed price, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory reviews.^[8]

Founders and financing

AppNexus was founded by former Right Media staff, CTO Brian O'Kelley, and Mike Nolet, product manager and director of analytics,^[9] with Michael Rubenstein, a former vice president and general manager at Google DoubleClick, who joined AppNexus as president in September 2009.^[10] The company was financially backed by Microsoft, Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital, Venrock,^[11] Kodiak Venture Partners, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and Ron Conway; as of 2015 the company had raised $250 million in financing. O'Kelley stepped down as CEO in October 2018.^[12]

References

1. Stephanie Clifford (2010-03-12). "Instant Ads Set the Pace on the Web". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
2. AppNexus (2010-03-12). "AppNexus Officially Launches Ad Platform Fueling the Real-Time Bidding Revolution in Display Advertising". Press release (Press release). PR Newswire. Archived from the original on 22 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
3. "AppNexus Expands Video Buying, Adds New Video Demand Partners". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
4. Liz Gannes (2010-10-05). "AppNexus Raises $50M for Real-time Ad Platform: Tech News and Analysis «". Gigaom.com. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
5. "AT&T to Acquire AppNexus". www.businesswire.com. 25 June 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
6. "AT&T Will Acquire AppNexus | AdExchanger". AdExchanger. 2018-06-25. Retrieved 2018-07-13.
7. "Xandr Acquired Clypt in Move to Build Connevted TV Empire". 18 October 2019..
8. Foley, Mary Jo (December 21, 2021). "Microsoft to buy Xandr ad marketplace from AT&T". ZDNet. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
9. "Who We Are". AppNexus. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
10. [1] Archived December 12, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
11. "AppNexus Secures $8 Million in Series B Funding". Pr-inside.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
12. Brian O’Kelley Steps Down As AppNexus CEO Published by adexchanger.com on October 5, 2018, retrieved on September 11, 2019