Meredith Corp. buys ad specialty firm Grocery Server

Meredith Corporation, a publisher of women's magazines, has acquired Grocery Server to support location-based ads for food and retail brands. While Meredith Corp.'s primary focus is content creation, enterprises in the content space often need native platforms for advertisers. Following a successful partnership, the acquisition formalizes the company's relationship with Grocery Server and brings its line of advertising solutions under the Meredith Corp. umbrella.
"Grocery Server was founded in 2008 as an ad platform that pulls location data from grocery stores and CPG brands into ads on publishers' websites," explains AdWeek. "Meredith first started working with Grocery Server in April 2014 to plug local ads into AllRecipes.com — its hub of recipe and food content."
By marrying content and advertising, the ability for companies to profit increases significantly. One of the hottest acquisition targets for media companies is the ad platform, because when those solutions are perfected it can provide a new revenue stream. Rather than contracting Grocery Server for a la carte services, acquiring the business outright will give Meredith Corp. exclusive access to some of the most innovative tools the company has designed since 2008.
The acquisition is an example of how fruitful long-term partnerships can blossom into mergers and acquisitions. One of the best ways startups can grow their M&A prospects is to establish strong working relationships with the types of companies they'd one day like to buy them. The more satisfied partners are, the more likely they are to seek your company as an acquisition target.
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