On Monday, Google mobile ad company AdMob. AdMob, besides providing mobile display ads, uses its platform to perform market research, as well. For example, in Septemeber, AdMob received 10.2 billion ad requests, with 2.6 billion of those from iPhone and iPod touch devices. That is up from 130 million in September '08.
Google has its own fledgling mobile advertising business, which is especially focused on search advertising. However, AdMob has a big early lead with display advertising on smartphone platforms, including Apple's iPhone and even Google's Android.
Google has long been rumored to be the perfect suitor for AdMob, so none of this is a surprise. The deal involves $750 million in stock.
AdMob was founded in 2006. Its founder and CEO is Omar Hamoui. While primarily known as an iPhone publisher, its recently begun forays into Android as well. As stated previously, through its platform the company collects and publishes data on mobile trends, as well.
Susan Wojcicki, Google's vice president of product management, praised AdMob in a statement: "Mobile advertising has enormous potential as a marketing medium and while this industry is still in the early stages of development, AdMob has already made exceptional progress in a very short time."
Assuming approval by regulatory bodies, the acquisition would rank as one of Google's largest, trailing DoubleClick at $3.1 billion and YouTube at $1.6 billion, but larger than Postini's $625 million. Google's stock was up 1.81 percent to $561 on news of the deal. AdMob is a private company.
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