MediaMath is filing for bankruptcy protection, an emergency proceeding that took place after it failed to successfully negotiate terms with potential buyers in recent weeks, Digiday reported. It’s a development that will have serious repercussions felt throughout the digital media landscape leaving hundreds out of work, and dozens of sell-side ad tech companies, mostly publishers, out of pocket, with tens of millions worth of debts. Executives at supply-side platforms scurried for information as word filtered out that MediaMath’s financial backers failed to agree a deal with potentially interested acquirers late this week. Staffers were told of MediaMath’s imminent closure with a skeleton crew retained to administer proceedings in the coming weeks. MediaMath’s recent negotiations, facilitated by Houlihan Lokey, began in earnest in mid-May. Among the names strongly linked with a potential MediaMath takeover were fellow demand-side platform Viant and Verve Group, a full-stack ad tech company owned by Media Games Invest. These talks were the result of a “quick-sale process” that had emerged in recent weeks after representatives of MediaMath contacted outside parties that may have been interested in the DSP. MediaMath is one of the longest-standing names in ad tech, but its finances have become complicated in recent years, with its founder and original CEO Joe Zawadski exiting in early 2022.
