Business News
Axel Springer and PubliGroupe acquire AOL subsidiary Buy.at
Monday 01. March 2010 - Market leadership attained in UK performance-based online marketing
UK affiliate marketing network Digital Window, in which Axel Springer AG and Swiss PubliGroupe S.A. hold a majority stake since 2009, acquires its competitor Perfiliate Ltd. Using the brand Buy.at, Perfiliate operates a leading affiliate network in the UK, USA and in Scandinavia.
Axel Springer entered the affiliate market through its Zanox acquisition in 2007. The next step a mere two years later was the acquisition of a majority stake in Digital Window opening up the attractive UK market. Dr. Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer AG: “By acquiring Buy.at along with the performance marketing group of Zanox and Digital Window, Axel Springer attains both UK and European market leadership in performance-based online marketing.”
Over 300 merchant brands use the Buy.at platform to access 40,000 online publishers. Formerly part of AOL, the profitable business has approximately 70 staff in London and Newcastle and last year achieved revenues of more than 40 million Euro. Like Digital Window, the company earns an override against commissions paid for every partner transaction completed via its platform. Companies like O2 and Virgin Media are amongst its merchants.
Digital Window enables more than 950 advertisers to market their goods and services through 80,000 partners. It counts John Lewis, Marks & Spencers, Sky and Vodafone amongst its brands list.