RTL Group completes sale of VideoAmp ad tech stake

Broadcast giant RTL Group has completed the sale of its entire shareholding in VideoAmp, a US software and data company for media measurement, for US$104 million (€92 million) in cash.

The transaction was carried out as a share buyback by VideoAmp and became effective on January 4.

RTL said its shareholders will benefit from the transaction in line with the Group’s stated dividend policy.

Between 2015 and 2021, RTL Group participated in several rounds of funding for VideoAmp and most recently held an 8.57% shareholding in the company. RTL Group’s total net cash investment in VideoAmp amounted to US$14.5 million.

The sale is the latest in a series of disposals of holdings in US-based ad tech outfits for RTL. It originally acquired an 18.9% stake in VideoAmp in 2015, the same year in which it acquired a 17% stake in programmatic sales specialist Clypd.

Clypd was acquired by AT&T’s programmatic ad unit Xandr in 2019. In another sign of shifting priorities, AT&T itself sold Xandr to Microsoft at the end of last year.

Also last year, RTL closed the sale of its US ad-tech subsidiary SpotX to Magnite, a sell-side ad platform provider for US$640 million in cash and shares.

RTL said the sale of the shareholding in VideoAmp was consistent with its with strategy of three priorities comprising core, growth, and alliances and partnerships.

It said that the strategy includes continuously reviewing its portfolio and growing its European digital businesses in the areas of streaming and advertising technology, alongside the Group’s global content business, Fremantle.