Affiliate-based Online and mobile advertising network Tatoo Media has been acquired by mobile social gaming provider Ozura World for an estimated $60M, according to recent reports.
Tatoo Media provides “proprietary ad-serving technology optimized for both advertisers and publishers,” and as TechCrunch notes, has had somewhat of a checkered past in terms of deceptive advertising techniques. In 2009, the company was banned from Facebook for serving deceptive ads, and was accused of another questionable scheme last October under the so-called “Scamville” saga.
Ozura World focuses primarily on mobile social gaming and says the acquisition of Tatoo Media will “significantly strengthen” the gaming company’s ability to connect advertisers to consumers. Ozura primarily targets Asian markets including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines. About three years ago, Tatoo said publicly that it was earning over $40M in annual revenue and that it expected that number to more than double by 2009. It’s unclear whether its deceptive techniques hurt its business model, but its $60M price tag today suggests that business wasn’t as strong as it had hoped going into 2009 and beyond.