Affle Buys Perion for $420 Million to Fill Its Performance Gap

Affle has agreed to acquire Perion for $420 million, a deal both companies describe as a merger of complementary ad tech stacks rather than a sale. The transaction is expected to close in early 2027, with LUMA Partners advising Affle.

Tal Jacobson, Perion's CEO, will stay on after the close. He told AdExchanger that every one of Perion's roughly 500 employees is staying aboard. The acquisition brings the combined company's headcount to just over 1,000 people.

"We don't think about selling. We think about merging – taking two successful companies and making them a bigger engine of growth," Jacobson said. "Neither of us has the growth potential separately that we have together."

What does each side gain?

The strategic logic rests on what each company lacks. Affle is an India-based holding company for mobile ad tech, built around performance marketing (advertising paid for by measurable user actions) and largely active in emerging markets. Perion concentrates on CTV (connected TV), digital out-of-home and retail media, serving big brands and agencies in developed markets, mainly North America.

Perion has spent recent years promoting outcome-based advertising to clients. Its offering had one gap. "We never had good performance-driven technology for mobile," Jacobson said. "Affle has pure technology just for that."

Affle gains access to the agencies, holding companies and brands Perion already works with, said Sameer Sondhi, Affle's CEO of North America and chief strategic investments officer.

Is $420 million the right price?

Perion alone paid $100 million for Hivestack in 2023, $65 million for Greenbids last year and $12 million for PRN, an in-store retail media business, just a few months ago. Jacobson conceded the question is tricky.

"For a public company, the right price is what investors will pay, and I don't believe Perion was valued correctly in recent years," he said. "If the public market doesn't see our long-term potential, why not join forces with someone who does?"

Sondhi added: "Both of us are listed, so the number is always going to be debated. There are plenty of public reference points – DoubleVerify, Nielsen, LiveRamp, IAS – and the boards have to approve. In the end, a number is a mindset thing."

What happens to Perion's pricing model?

Affle has pushed a cost-per-converted-user model, where advertisers pay only for conversions. Perion's inventory will not all move to that pricing. "You can't sell out-of-home on a CPC model, because you can't click on an ad," Jacobson said. "But you can say, 'Pay us for performance.'"

Formats may be priced as CPC, CPA or CPL, depending on the channel and the advertiser's goal. "We're outcome-driven. The KPI is whatever defines success for that advertiser," Jacobson said. Sondhi framed it as education rather than conversion: "We don't want to confuse them. We want to educate them."

How does AI fit in?

Both companies have invested heavily in AI over the past two years. Perion's Outmax agent trades media, mostly inside walled gardens (closed platforms such as YouTube and Meta). Affle's AI targets the deeper funnel and conversions. Jacobson does not expect the algorithms to merge, but the tools will sit under one roof. Sondhi put it plainly: "The systems don't need to unify. They just need to talk to each other better."

How do the nesting dolls fit together?

Perion will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary under Affle, which lets acquired companies keep their own names, roadmaps and teams. Greenbids provides access to the walled gardens — YouTube, Meta, TikTok — which neither Perion nor Affle previously had. PRN extends out-of-home into retail stores.

Jacobson placed the deal within a three-year consolidation effort. "We've worked hard over the past three years to roll up other companies, and this is just another phase of that," he said. "This industry does not need 150 ad tech companies. It needs to consolidate."

The open web adds context. Perion's open web spend fell by around 23% in Q2, and Jacobson is direct about the implications: "We've been telling investors and clients that the open web is not the future. Forget channels, focus on outcomes." For Affle, the bet is that Perion's brand relationships and CTV, DOOH and retail media inventory convert its performance technology into growth in developed markets.