Video ad platform BrightRoll acquired by Yahoo for $640 million

Yahoo is acquiring the video advertising platform BrightRoll for $640 million, in a move that could help to offset declines in its traditional display ad business. The deal was announced Tuesday and is one of Yahoo’s largest acquisitions since it bought Tumblr last year for just over $1 billion. Yahoo already runs video ads on properties like Yahoo Screen, but BrightRoll’s system gives marketers a way to buy ads in real time across thousands of websites and mobile apps.

Yahoo didn’t wait long to put to use its newfound riches from the Alibaba IPO. On Tuesday, it acquired video-advertising company BrightRoll for $640 million in cash. BrightRoll, based here, could help Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer in her quest to wrest back online ad revenue from rivals Google and Facebook. “BrightRoll is a terrific, strategic and financially compelling fit for our video-advertising business,” Mayer said in a statement. “This acquisition will accelerate the growth of both companies – we can help BrightRoll scale to even more advertisers globally and they can bring their tremendous platform offering to Yahoo’s advertisers.” The purchase, which brings Yahoo’s expenditures on acquisitions to $1.6 billion since Mayer took over as CEO in July 2012, is Yahoo’s boldest to stanch lost Web sales to competitors.