Zynga agrees to acquire mobile ad and monetization platform Chartboost for $250 million

In mid February, Frank Gibeau, Zynga’s CEO, had said to investors that the gaming  giant expects to build its own ad network, including “key components of technology” related to the demand side, the supply side, an exchange layer, and some type of attribution. We had also reported that the company might also consider to acquire some ad tech.

Zynga announced recently that it has agreed to acquire mobile programmatic advertising and monetization platform Chartboost for $250 million in cash. The acquisition agreement between Zynga and Chartboost is expected to be completed in the 3rd quarter of 2021.

Zynga and Chartboost said they together possess all the elements of a complete, next generation platform: high-quality content, direct player relationships, massive reach and full-stack advertising technology that can be applied across Zynga’s game portfolio and Chartboost’s advertising partners.

“Chartboost is one of the most dynamic monetization and discovery platforms in mobile, and we could not be more excited to welcome their talented team to our company,” said Frank Gibeau, Chief Executive Officer of Zynga. “By combining Zynga’s high-quality games portfolio and first-party data with Chartboost’s proven advertising and monetization platform, we will create a new level of audience scale and meaningfully enhance our competitive advantage in the mobile ecosystem.”

Founded in San Francisco by Maria Alegre and Sean Fannan in 2011, Chartboost provides DSP, SSP, and mediation platforms through an SDK solution. Received $21 million of investment so far, Chartboost has more than 700 million monthly active users.

“We are thrilled to join with Zynga to further build and expand our full stack advertising platform that will serve Zynga and the entire mobile ecosystem,” said Rich Izzo, Chief Executive Officer of Chartboost. “Together, we share a vision of the future where a combined advertising, analytics and content platform will accelerate growth across both of our companies. Zynga already feels like family and an extension of our own company culture.”