Millennial Media, the third-largest mobile advertising company in the U.S., is said to be in talks with bankers regarding a possible IPO in the near future.
We’ve followed Millennial for a long time, mostly for their awesome monthly reports on the mobile advertising ecosystem and mobile device usage in general, but also out of sheer interest for a company that has remained independent in the mobile advertising world amid nearly all other large-scale providers getting snapped up in acquisitions.
In a Bloomberg article published last week, the author cites “two people with knowledge of the discussions” who indicate an IPO may come later this year or in early 2012, valuing the company at $700 million to $1 billion. According to the Bloomberg report, Millennial accounted for 6.8 percent of mobile-ad revenue last year, up from 5.4 percent in 2009. “Millennial has done surprisingly well,” said Karsten Weide, an analyst at Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC. “One attraction is that they are independent and platform-agnostic.”
It was rumored a while back that Millennial was in talks with Microsoft for an acquisition, and according to those close to the discussions, those talks have since ceased. An IPO seems like the most logical step at this point given the company’s massive growth lately. Millennial is working with 20 of the top 25 advertisers according to CEO Paul Palmieri, and more than 94% of clients run repeat campaigns, he said. The company is keeping quiet on the rumors of a possible IPO. “We do not comment on rumors,” said Mack McKelvey, SVP, Marketing at Millennial Media when asked for comment.
