Xandr Xandr, Inc. (pronounced "Zander") is the advertising and analytics subsidiary of Microsoft, which operates an online platform, ''Community'', for buying and selling consumer-centric digital advertising. In December 2021, AT&T announced that t ...

, formerly known as AppNexus, is an American multinational

technology company A technology company (or tech company) is an electronics-based technological company, including, for example, business relating to digital electronics, software, and internet-related services, such as e-commerce services. Details According to ''Fo ...

operating a

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may co ...

-based software platform that enables and optimizes programmatic online advertising. Headquartered in the Flatiron District of New York City, the company has 23 offices in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia. AppNexus offers

online auction An online auction (also electronic auction, e-auction, virtual auction, or eAuction) is an auction held over the internet and accessed by internet connected devices. Similar to in-person auctions, online auctions come in a variety of types, with d ...

infrastructure and technology for data management, optimization, financial clearing and support for directly negotiated

advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...

s. It has both

demand-side platform A demand-side platform (DSP) is a system that allows buyers of digital advertising inventory to manage multiple ad exchange and data exchange accounts through one interface. Real-time bidding for displaying online advertising takes place within the ...

(DSP),

supply-side platform A supply-side platform (SSP) or sell-side platform is a technology platform to enable web publishers and digital out-of-home (DOOH) media owners to manage their advertising inventory, fill it with ads, and receive revenue. Many of the larger web ...

(SSP), and ad serving functionalities. It integrates with advertising sources including Google's "Authorized Buyers" ad exchange, Magnite,

Pubmatic PubMatic, Inc. is a company that develops and implements online advertising software and strategies for the digital publishing and advertising industry. PubMatic's advertising software puts publishers of websites, videos, and mobile apps into cont ...

and other aggregators. It operates out of multiple

data center A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunic ...

s, including one in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

serving

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, in a facility shared with

Equinix Equinix, Inc. is an American multinational company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that specializes in Internet connection and data centers. The company is a leader in global colocation data center market share, with 240 data centers ...

. In 2016, AppNexus was ranked #21 on ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' Magazine's "The Cloud 100" list. In June 2018,

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

announced it was acquiring the company and putting it under its

division as a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

. AppNexus was reportedly sold for $1.6 billion, while most news outlets speculated the company did not sell for less than $2 billion. In October 2019, Xandr purchased Clypd, a privately-held technology company focused on enabling programmatic buying of linear television advertising. In December 2021, AT&T announced that they had agreed to sell Xandr to

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

for an undisclosed price, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory reviews.

Founders and financing

AppNexus was founded by former

Right Media Right Media, Inc. is an online advertising company that operates the Right Media Exchange (RMX), a marketplace that enables advertisers, publishers, and ad networks to trade digital media. Technology providers develop services for the Exchange v ...

staff, CTO

Brian O'Kelley Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word mea ...

, and Mike Nolet, product manager and director of analytics, with Michael Rubenstein, a former vice president and general manager at Google

DoubleClick DoubleClick Inc. was an advertisement company that developed and provided Internet ad serving services from 1995 until its acquisition by Google in March 2008. DoubleClick offered technology products and services that were sold primarily to adv ...

, who joined AppNexus as president in September 2009. The company was financially backed by

Khosla Ventures Khosla Ventures is an American venture capital firm founded by Vinod Khosla, focused on early-stage companies in the Internet, computing, mobile, financial services, agriculture, healthcare and clean technology sectors. Some of its most successfu ...

First Round Capital First Round is a venture capital firm that specializes in providing seed-stage funding to technology companies. Founded by Josh Kopelman Joshua Kopelman is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist. Kopelman is best k ...

Venrock Venrock (portmanteau of Venture and Rockefeller) is a venture capital firm formed in 1969 to build upon the successful investing activities of the Rockefeller family that began in the late 1930s. It has offices in Palo Alto, California, New York ...

, Kodiak Venture Partners,

Marc Andreessen Marc Lowell Andreessen ( ; born July 9, 1971) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and software engineer. He is the co-author of Mosaic, the first widely used web browser; co-founder of Netscape; and co-founder and general partner of Silicon ...

Ben Horowitz Benjamin Abraham Horowitz (born June 13, 1966) is an American businessman, investor, blogger, and author. He is a technology entrepreneur and co-founder along with Marc Andreessen of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He previously co ...

, and

Ron Conway Ronald Crawford Conway (born March 9, 1951) is an American venture capitalist and philanthropist. He has been described as one of Silicon Valley's "super angels". Early career Conway graduated from San Jose State University with a bachelor's de ...

; as of 2015 the company had raised $250 million in financing. O'Kelley stepped down as CEO in October 2018.Brian O’Kelley Steps Down As AppNexus CEO
Published by adexchanger.com on October 5, 2018, retrieved on September 11, 2019

References

2007 establishments in New York City Pay-per-click search engines E-commerce software Online companies of the United States American companies established in 2007 Marketing companies established in 2007 Online advertising services and affiliate networks Mass media companies based in New York City Microsoft acquisitions Microsoft subsidiaries Former AT&T subsidiaries 2018 mergers and acquisitions {{US-internet-company-stub