Matomy Media Group Ltd.
TypePublic limited company
ISINIL0011316978 Edit this on Wikidata
IndustryAdvertising
Predecessor
  • AdsMarket
Founded2007
Founders
  • Ofer Druker
  • Adi Orzel
  • Kfir Moyal
Headquarters
Tel Aviv
,
Israel
Number of locations
11 (2016)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Ilan Tomar (COO)
Products
  • Team Internet
ServicesDigital marketing
RevenueUS$ 245.1 Million (2017)
Number of employees
250 (2017)
Websitewww.matomy.com

Matomy Media Group Ltd., a publicly traded company since July 2014,[1] is a shell corporation which was the former owner and operator of a number of performance-based and programmatic advertising solutions, which were all sold or closed by the end of 2019.

History

Origin

The company was incorporated in 2006 and launched in 2007 as AdsMarket.[2] The company was founded in Israel by Ofer Druker, Adi Orzel and Kfir Moyal.[3] The company joined the IAB QAG Certified Network in 2011.[4]

Matomy was advised by Ilan Shiloah since its inception,[5] and he took on the role of chairman until November 2015.[6]

Matomy became a publicly traded company on the High Growth Segment of the London Stock Exchange's Main Market in July 2014.[7] Following its initial public offering, Matomy received an $82 million investment from global advertising holding company Publicis Groupe, which acquired 24.9% of Matomy's ordinary shares.[8]

Matomy dual-listed on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange in February 2016.[9]

Matomy grew by investing in companies within the advertising domain, most notably Team Internet (2014), Mobfox (2014) and Optimatic (2015).

2017 Brosh Capital intervention

Matomy was led by Ofer Druker from its inception until April 2017, at which point he stepped down at the request of activist hedge fund Brosh Capital,[5] who thought that the company was being mismanaged. Ofer was replaced by Sagi Niri.[10] Brosh Capital also requested that Matomy employee Nir Tarlovsky and Brosh Capital employee Amir Efrati be added to the board of directors, which was approved.[11]

In May 2017, the company announced that it would focus on just three of its products: Team Internet (domain monetization), Mobfox (in-app advertising) and Optimatic (video advertising).[12]

2018-2019 Funding crisis

Prelude

The partial purchase of Team Internet in 2014 allowed the existing shareholders to sell their remaining stakes to Matomy at set intervals, with a valuation based on the performance of Team Internet. The existing shareholders were the three founders of Team Internet: Nico Zeifang, Mario Witte and Stefan Wiegard, equal partners in a holding company called 'Rainmaker'.[13] In the case that Matomy had insufficient funds, the founders would be able to buy back their shares at a 40% discount to the purchase price.[14]

Team Internet had grown significantly, with a valuation of $1.25M in 2012 growing to $185M in 2017.[15] In December 2018, the then CEO Sagi Niri negotiated with the founders to fix the purchase of the remaining 20% of Team Internet to be earlier than required, and fixed at a premium of the 2017 earnings, rather than based on later earnings.[16] The agreement also included a distribution of capital from Team Internet to shareholders, including Matomy, so that Matomy could fund the purchases.

In January 2018, Niri stepped down, in order to "pursue an offer that cannot be refused" with Teddy Sagi. Niri's ten-month tenure oversaw the disposal of non-core assets as well as the laying off of 150 staff in order to focus on just two parts of the company: MobFox and Team Internet.[17] Niri was replaced by Liam Galin, the former CEO of Flash Networks.[18] At the same time, two of the three founders of Team Internet left the company.[19] The Team Internet CEO and founder, Nico Zeifang, was replaced by Markus Ostertag.[20]

Revenue decline

Following the imposition of stricter quality requirements from video advertisers, the revenue of Optimatic fell significantly and was closed in April 2018.[21] The company also divested of some non-compliant traffic from Team Internet and Mobfox, meaning that the earnings of Team Internet were actually much lower than in 2017.[21]

In February 2018, Matomy raised $30M in convertible bonds in order to fund the purchase of the remaining share options held by Team Internet.[22] The bonds had a duration of three years, bear an interest of 5.5%, and have a conversion price of NIS 4.26.[23] Within a few months, the yields on the company's bonds entered junk bond territory, trading at a significant discount to their face value.[24]

In August 2018, Matomy sold Whitedelivery to 1029 Holdings Inc. However, the buyer subsequently ran into financial difficulties, meaning that Matomy lost the income from this unit without benefiting financially.[25]

In November 2018, Matomy sold Mobfox to Teddy Sagi, the person to whom Sagi Niri had resigned to. This left Team Internet as Matomy's only subsidiary. The CEO Liam Galin said that the sale was partially to fund the acquisition of the remaining shares of Team Internet, and that he was trying to alter the terms of that acquisition, which was due at the end of the same month.[26] Later in the month, the company scheduled a meeting with the company's bondholders in order to seek new terms for the bonds.[27] At this point, the bonds were trading at over a 50% discount to the face value, and the shares had fallen by 95% in the previous two years.

Bond renegotiation and rights issue

Some bond holders proposed an immediate repayment of the bonds, but this was rejected by a majority of bond holders.[28] Instead, a proposal that the bond holders appoint a trustee to negotiate the terms on the bonds with Matomy was accepted.

The new bond terms were provisionally agreed in January 2019. These terms increased the interest rate to 7%, delayed the payment schedule and enabled prepayment without penalty. In return, the main shareholders agreed to invest $10 million by way of a rights issue, with a promise to invest a further $2 million in bonds if the rights issue to the other shareholders raised less than $2 million. The owners of Team Internet, Rainmaker, also agreed to reduce their expected payment from $18.5 million to $13.5 million.[29]

Cost reductions

In March 2019, the management structure was slimmed down, after the CEO Liam Galin stepped down to pursue a new venue and was replaced by Sami Totah, a partner at Viola Group, a shareholder of Matomy.[30] The company also replaced its resigned in house legal advisor with the law firm Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal. The company office was closed and the company address was changed to that of the law firm. To reduce costs, the market maker for their Tel Aviv securities was discharged from the end of June 2019.[31]

Offers for Team Internet

In April 2019, after no progress had been made by Matomy towards a bond renegotiation and rights issue, the minority shareholders of Team Internet exercised their option to buy back all their shares from Matomy at a 40% discount to the price paid.[32] This totalled $36 million, which would first be used to repay the bondholders. Bondholders approved the offer and also approved bond repayment at par value, totalling NIS 101 million ($28 million), leaving a surplus of $10 million for Matomy.[33][34] Matomy also confirmed that a German tax refund of approximately $4 million would remain payable to Matomy rather than Team Internet. The deal would leave Matomy with a cash balance of approximately $19 million and no business activities.

In June 2019, Matomy reported that the minority shareholders of Team Internet wanted to re-assess their offer for the whole of Team Internet after a handful of accounts were deactivated by Team Internet due to quality issues.[35] Whilst the offer was in jeopardy, the company proposed that current and former executives should be awarded bonuses.[36] These proposals were dropped within 24 hours at the request of the bondholders,[37] but would reappear later, following the eventual sale of Team Internet.[38] In August 2019 the offer for Team Internet was dropped,[39] but in the same month, Matomy reported that it had received multiple non-binding offers for Team Internet that would likely enable it to meet all its financial obligations.[40]

Sale of Team Internet

Team Internet was sold in December 2019 to CentralNic for $48M, comprising $45M of cash and $3M in shares.[41][42][43] The first payment of $44M, together with $3M of Matomy's cash, was used to purchase the final 10% of Team Internet from Rainmaker and to repay the bondholders in full. Matomy is due to receive a second payment six months after the acquisition of $1.8M, and a third payment of $600K fifteen months after the acquisition. Matomy also received 3,911,650 shares in CentralNic, subject to a lock-up period of 12–18 months. Matomy also received interest whilst the deal was being finalised, of approximately $800K.[44] This transaction left Matomy with no active business.

Offer for the cash shell

On the day preceding the sale of Team Internet, director Nir Tarlovsky sold his stake in Matomy,[45] followed the day after by ex-director Ilan Shiloah.[46] On the same day a hostile takeover was announced by Kfir Silberman.[47] He sent a letter to the company declaring that he had taken a 5% stake in the company and requested that no action be taken in the company's assets until the directors of Medigus, an Israeli Medical device maker that Silberman controlled, had been made directors of Matomy. Separately, Globes reported that Silberman was negotiating with Publicis and other shareholders to buy their stakes. Silberman and Medigus had previously acquired the cash shell Intellisense for the purpose of listing their subsidiary ScoutCam.[48]

The company suppressed publication of the official disclosure of Silberman's stake building for eight days,[49] and did not publicly respond to Silberman, instead proposing that shareholders award bonuses to the current and former management team.[38] These were subsequently approved by shareholders.[50]

On 13 February 2020, the Israeli medical device maker Medigus announced that they were in negotiations to buy 24.99% of the company from other shareholders.[51] Four days later, Viola announced that they had sold their stake, and that the chairman of Matomy, who was also a partner at Viola, would be resigning from Matomy.[52] The following day, Medigus announced that they had purchased 2.3% of the company at a premium of 20%, with an intention to purchase 22.7% more at the same price.[53] These shares were purchased from Publicis on 25 March 2020. A shareholder meeting was convened to vote on replacing the Matomy management team with directors from Medigus.

Team Internet

Team Internet is the parent company of ParkingCrew and Tonic (formerly DNTX), and is a Munich-based domain parking company launched in 2010 by Nico Zeifang, Stefan Wiegard and Mario Witte. The founders had accumulated a portfolio of 60,000 domains but were not satisfied with the domain monetization platforms on offer, in particular the fact that large advertisers ignored low traffic sites, so they created their own advertising exchange, DNTX.[13] Domain monetization was offered as a service to the public in 2012. By 2018, the company owned 48,000 domains.

YearActionNotes
2012Purchase of 20% stakeThe stake cost $2.5M, valuing the company at $12.5M.
2014Stake increased to 70% from 20%The stake cost $27M, valuing the company at $54M.[54]
2017Stake increased to 80% from 70%The acquisition was instigated by options held by Team Internet, and cost $10.4M, valuing the company at $104M.[55]
2018Stake increased to 90% from 80%The acquisition was instigated by options held by Team Internet, and cost $18.5M, valuing the company at $185M.[15]
2019SoldThe entire company was sold to CentralNic for $48M. Due to a liability to the remaining 10% owners, Matomy received only $27M from the sale.[41]

Others

CompanyYearActionNotes
Xtend G.M. Global Media Ltd2008Outright acquisitionOnline display network and SEM provider.[56]
Matomy Money2010Outright acquisitionAlternative payment solutions provider
Adperio201117.7% stake acquisitionDenver-based interactive marketing company, founded in 1994 that offers social media, email, SEO, mobile and other emerging technology solutions.[57] The initial acquisition was for 15% of the company for $2.25M, with call and put options in the following years which were not exercised.
MediaWhiz2013Outright acquisitionNew York-based performance marketing agency that provided clients with permission-based email marketing, affiliate marketing and data acquisition.[58]
Adquant[59]2013Acquisition of the social marketing agency portionProvider of software for running social media campaigns.[60]
MobFox2014Outright acquisitionAustrian-based mobile programmatic advertising firm. The acquisition was paid using $10.1M in cash, plus shares worth $7.5M.[61]
MobAff[62]2013Outright acquisitionFlorida-based mobile ad network.
Avenlo201570% stake acquisitionCanadian-based company who had developed a platform for direct email marketing campaigns. The acquisition has been valued at around $17.6M.[63]
Optimatic[64]2015Outright acquisitionProgrammatic monetization platform for video advertising. Matomy paid a minimum of $25M for Optimatic.
'Non-core' businesses'[65]2017Sold to Creative Clicks MediaThe sale was worth up to $11M, and included 60 Matomy employees.
Adperio[66]2017Sold to unrelated third partyThe sale was worth approximately $2M.
Optimatic2018ClosureThe video advertising platform Optimatic stopped trading in April 2018.[21] CEO Liam Galin described it as a "cash-bleeding" activity.[67]
Whitedelivery2018Sold to 1029 HOLDINGS INCThe email advertising platform Whitedelivery was sold to 1029 HOLDINGS INC in August 2018.[68] The price at the time of the sale was reported as $8.5 million, but the buyer subsequently ran into financial difficulties and was unable to pay.[25]
MobFox2018Sold to Tightline Holdings LtdThe mobile advertising platform was sold to Tightline Holdings Ltd (part of Teddy Sagi group) in November 2018 for $7.5 million.[69]

References

  1. ↑ "LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE WELCOMES MATOMY MEDIA GROUP IPO". lseg.com. London Stock Exchange Group. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "Israel's Backed targets US online loans market". Globes. 5 March 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  3. ↑ "Matomy plans London IPO at $400-500m valuation". Globes English. 15 September 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "About Matomy Media Group". Matomy.com. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Matomy to lay off 10% of employees". Globes. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  6. ↑ "Matomy Group appoints former ITV chief Rupert Howell as non-executive chairman". 25 November 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  7. ↑ Armstrong, Ashley. "Matomy uses High Growth Segment for second listing attempt". www.telegraph.co.uk/. Telegraph. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  8. ↑ Gallivan, Rory (13 October 2014). "Publicis to Buy Stake in Digital-Advertising Technology Company Matomy Media". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "Online ad firm Matomy considering options, including possible deal". Reuters. 18 October 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  10. ↑ "Israeli online ad firm Matomy's CFO to replace Druker as CEO". Reuters. 13 April 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  11. ↑ "Matomy Media Group - Notice of EGM". 30 September 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  12. ↑ "MATOMY ANNOUNCES NEW STRATEGIC FOCUS". 8 May 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  13. 1 2 "How 3 Friends Bootstrapped and Profitably Built ParkingCrew.com and DNTX.com for Themselves and Their Customers - With Nico Zeifang" (PDF). Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  14. ↑ ולדהורן, שירי חביב (26 November 2018). "לאחר הקריסה: התרחישים העומדים בפני מטומי, נושיה ובעלי מניותיה". Globes. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  15. 1 2 ולדהורן, שירי חביב (5 February 2018). "Matomi raised NIS 103 million in convertible bonds". Globes. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  16. ↑ "Matomy Media Group- Update". 28 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  17. ↑ "TASE Indexes Mixed in Tuesday Trading". Haaretz. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  18. ↑ "Digital Marketing Company Matomy Media Replaces CEO after Ten Months". 9 January 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  19. ↑ "Stefan Wiegard". 18 December 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  20. ↑ "Markus Ostertag". 18 December 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  21. 1 2 3 "Ad fraud warning as Publicis-backed digital media company Matomy struggles". 30 August 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  22. ↑ "Digital Marketing Company Matomy Wants to Raise $25 million in Convertible Bonds". 10 January 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  23. ↑ "ביקושי יתר משמעותיים בהנפקת איגרות החוב להמרה של מטומי". 1 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  24. ↑ "האג"ח בתשואת זבל, התוצאות רעות - אבל מנכ"ל מטומי מעודד". 8 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  25. 1 2 "Matomy Media Group Third Quarter 2018 Financial Results". 1 January 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  26. ↑ "Matomy Seeks To Alter Terms For Buying Remaining Team Internet Stake". 23 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  27. ↑ ולדהורן, שירי חביב (25 November 2018). "ניירות הערך של מטומי קורסים: המשקיעים בחברת הפרסום הדיגיטלי "מריחים" הסדר חוב". Globes. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  28. ↑ ולדהורן, שירי חביב (3 December 2018). "Matomy reports: Bond holders, founders of the subsidiary and shareholders are toughening their positions against the company". Globes. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  29. ↑ "Matomy Media Bondholders Agree To Company's Proposed Repayment Plan". 30 January 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  30. ↑ שלו, שי (6 March 2019). "מנכ"ל מטומי ליעם גלין התפטר; סמי תותח ימלא את מקומו". Globes. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  31. ↑ "אי.בי.אי תחדל לפעול כעושה שוק במטומי ובמטומי אג א מיום 1.7.19". 30 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  32. ↑ "Matomy Media receives $36m bid for Team Internet stake". 5 April 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  33. ↑ ולדהורן, שירי חביב (14 April 2019). "מחזיקי האג"ח של מטומי אישרו פה-אחד את מכירת החברה הבת טים אינטרנט ל-Rainmaker". Globes. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  34. ↑ "מטומי זינקה ב-21% - אף על פי שעסקת טים אינטרנט לא נסגרה". TheMarker. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  35. ↑ ולדהורן, שירי חביב (20 June 2019). "הצרות של מטומי נמשכות: קשיים בעסקת מכירה שאמורה הייתה להבטיח את תשלום האג"ח". Globes. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  36. ↑ דובר, שירי; ולדהורן, שירי חביב (22 July 2019). ""עם אהבה וללא חרטה": אלטשולר שחם פתחה את יום המסחר בת"א". Globes. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  37. ↑ ולדהורן, שירי חביב (23 July 2019). "נאמן האג"ח התנגד, ומטומי הסירה את ההצעות לחלק בונוסים לבכירים לשעבר". Globes. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  38. 1 2 ולדהורן, שירי חביב (1 January 2020). "לאחר החזר החוב למחזיקי האג"ח: במטומי מבקשים להעניק בונוס לבכירים לשעבר". Globes. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  39. ↑ ולדהורן, שירי חביב (22 August 2019). "חוזרים למתווה של הסדר חוב? בוטלה מכירת החברה הבת של מטומי תמורת 36 מיליון דולר". Globes. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  40. ↑ "Matomy Media receives approaches from parties interested in buying its Team Internet stake". 28 August 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  41. 1 2 "CentralNic Acquires Team Internet AG for up to $48 million (USD)". 15 November 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  42. ↑ "Matomy reports selling Team Internet for €46m". Globes. 17 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  43. ↑ סימון, גיא בן; ולדהורן, שירי חביב (24 December 2019). "אג"ח מטומי זינקה ב-117% מהשפל באוגוסט: תחזיר את מלוא החוב לאחר מכירת פעילותה ב-46 מיליון אירו". Globes. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  44. ↑ "Acquisition of web services company Team Internet AG for up to US$48 million and trading update for Q3 2019". 15 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  45. ↑ "Director/PDMR Shareholding". 3 January 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  46. ↑ "TR-1: Standard form for notification of major holdings". 27 December 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  47. ↑ סימון, גיא בן (24 December 2019). "כפיר זילברמן מבקש להשתלט על מטומי: דורש למנות את אלי יורש כדירקטור מטעמו". Globes. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  48. ↑ "ScoutCam תונפק באמצעות שלד בורסאי". 3 November 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  49. ↑ "TR-1: Standard form for notification of major holdings". 31 December 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  50. ↑ "Results of Extraordinary General Meeting of Matomy Media Group Ltd". 5 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  51. ↑ "Re: Negotiation with certain shareholders of the Company for selling their shares". 13 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  52. ↑ ולדהורן, שירי חביב (17 February 2020). "אקורד סיום: ויולה מכרה את יתרת המניות שלה במטומי; סמי תותח פרש מהחברה". Globes. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  53. ↑ "Matomy Media Says Talks Continue With Investors After Medigus Buys In". 18 February 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  54. ↑ "Israel's Matomy buys majority stake in Germany's Team Internet". www.reuters.com. Reuters. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  55. ↑ "Matomy Buys Further Tranche Of Team Internet, Increases Holding To 80%". 13 January 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  56. ↑ Kristina Knight (7 April 2011). "Matomy, Adsmarket, XTEND integrate for one-stop shop". BizReport. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  57. ↑ "Matomy acquires US digital ad co Adperio for $30m". globes. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  58. ↑ "Matomy Media Group Acquires MediaWhiz". Yahoo!. 7 January 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  59. ↑ "Israel's Matomy buys Adquant's social media ad agency". Reuters. 24 October 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  60. ↑ "Kenshoo Acquires Adquant to Bolster Social and Mobile Marketing SaaS Offering". 16 September 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  61. ↑ "Matomy Media Group Acquires MobFox, Europe's Leading Mobile Advertising Platform". 24 October 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  62. ↑ Beltrone, Gabriel. "Matomy Buys Mobile Shop MobAff". adweek.com. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  63. ↑ Gallivan, Rory (15 April 2015). "Matomy Media Buys 70% of Avenlo". Wall Street Journal.
  64. ↑ "Matomy buys NY-based video ad platform Optimatic". 16 November 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  65. ↑ "BRIEF-Matomy Media says sale of non-core businesses to Creative Clicks Media". Reuters. 6 July 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  66. ↑ "Matomy Media Group- Update". 28 December 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  67. ↑ "Edited Transcript of MTMY.L earnings conference call or presentation 4-Jun-18 10:45am GMT". 13 June 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  68. ↑ "Matomy's Sells Whitedelivery to 1029 HOLDINGS INC for up to $8.5M". 15 August 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  69. ↑ "Matomy Media To Sell Advertising Platform Mobfox For USD7.5 Million". 15 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
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