MediaMath To File For Bankruptcy Protection – report

Demand-side platform MediaMath is filing for bankruptcy protection, an emergency proceeding that took place after failing to agree a deal with prospective acquirers recently, according to a report from Digiday. 

According to AdExchanger, emails were sent Friday morning to MediaMath employees and partners saying the company will cease operations in the coming months.

According to people with direct knowledge of the discussions, MediaMath’s latest negotiations, which were handled by investment bank Houlihan Lokey, got underway in earnest in the middle of May. Both demand-side platform Viant and the MGI-owned Verve Group recently pursued the acquisition of MediaMath, but neither deal materialized. MGI was still being discussed last week.

According to a person familiar with the matter, these discussions were the outcome of a “quick-sale process” that had developed in recent weeks as MediaMath executives got in touch with potential buyers outside the company.

MediaMath had amassed more than $600 million in funding since it was founded in 2007, but it was forced to recapitalize with Searchlight Capital last year. In return for a commitment to invest up to $150 million through a mix of new funding and debt refinancing, it sold a majority share to Searchlight. The stockholders, early investors, and co-founders of MediaMath, including Joe Zawadzki, lost all of their equity in the company as a consequence of the Searchlight deal, according to a March 2023 article by Insider.

It was first reported in mid-2020 that the company had appointed Centerview Partners to seek out potential bidders. According to a 2021 sales deck obtained by Digiday, the MediaMath platform saw gross spending of about $591 million in 2020, of which 60% came straight from brands and 70% was based in the United States.