Google’s Newest M&A Target has Canadian Roots
According to the Wall St. Journal, Google may be getting into the video game advertising business by acquiring Adscape Media Inc.. While Adscape has its corporate headquarters in Mountain View, Ca., it was started five years ago in Ottawa by ex-Nortel engineer Dan Willis, and the company’s R&D and design operations remain in the Canadian capital. To date, Adscape has raised $3.2-million in venture capital (H.I.G. Ventures is among its investors). While the WSJ didn’t offer up a potential acquisition price for Adscape, Microsoft moved into the video game advertising business last year when it acquired Massive Inc. for about $200-million. For more details about Adscape, check out these stories from the Ottawa Business Journal (here and here).
Note: Credit for the Ottawa connection should be given to one of this blog’s readers, who was good enough to pass on the tip.
Technorati Tags: Advertising, Google, Video Games
January 20th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Great find Mark. I should really start reading the Wall St. Journal more, it can only help.
January 20th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Amid the flurry of online content, the WSJ remains one of the leading news organizations.
January 20th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I also ran into a team from Google in Montreal at the CUSEC engineering conference. It seems that they quietly bought a local Montreal firm rumored to be around 6 people to kick start an office here. They are suppose to double in size to 30 from their current 15 in the next year.
Details were in short supply, but it seems they are doing some development of Google Desktop or Windows tools for Google.
January 21st, 2007 at 8:19 am
With the purchase of Req Wireless in Waterloo, and the creating of an R&D lab there as well, Google seems to have an affinity for Canada…:)
February 9th, 2007 at 4:46 am
[...] This is where I ran into a team from Google who was at the career fair looking to hire for their Montreal office. I spoke with some them and welcomed them to town. [...]
February 16th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
[...] Mark Evans wrote about the rumored acquisition a couple of weeks ago and explains the companies Canadian roots. [...]