Yahoo to buy stake in Taboola

Yahoo Inc. will become a shareholder of Taboola.com by buying almost 25% share. This deal will allow online advertising company, Taboola.com to exhibit paid content on the web portal's many sites.

The 30-year contract is a big bet by Yahoo on digital advertising at a time when industry giants from Alphabet-owned Google to Meta Platforms Inc. are struggling with an inflation-driven downturn in ad spending.

It is expected that the partnership between Yahoo and Taboola will generate $1 billion in annual revenue. Yahoo will also get a seat on Taboola's board.

Yahoo, owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management since a $5 billion buyout last year, has over the years been overtaken by Google and Facebook, but it still has nearly 900 million monthly active users thanks to a collection of sites such as Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports and TechCrunch.

With this news, the shares of Taboola rose 60%. Taboola pushes links to articles paid by advertisers - known as native advertising - on many websites such as CNBC and NBC News.

The deal will hand Taboola exclusive rights to sell native ads on Yahoo's sites.

The advertising firm said it expects the agreement to add to its revenue, operating earnings and free cash flow. In its latest earnings, Taboola posted a drop in quarterly revenue and also lowered its annual forecast because of a weak ad market.

The deal is approved by the companies’ boards and expected to close in the first quarter of 2023. Taboola plans to host a meeting on Dec. 30 to seek shareholders' approval.