AT&T’s sell-off continues.
The telecom giant will sell its Xandr global advertising business to Microsoft, the companies said Tuesday morning. Microsoft said that Xandr “strategically complements Microsoft’s current advertising offerings,” while AT&T will be able to continue to deleverage and focus on its core data business.
Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.
AT&T acquired the advertising platform AppNexus in 2018 for $1.6 billion, and relaunched it as Xandr (named after Alexander Graham Bell) the next month. The goal at the time was to leverage AT&T’s first-party phone data with Xandr’s advertising technology and WarnerMedia’s content to create an advertising business that could rival that of Google or Facebook.
Since John Stankey was named CEO of AT&T last year, however, he has sought to undo many of the telecom company’s big acquisitions. In addition to Xandr, Stankey forged the deal to spin off WarnerMedia into Discovery Inc., and spun off AT&T’s TV business, including DirecTV, in a deal with TPG. The company has also made some smaller divestitures, selling some of its international businesses, as well as stakes in companies like GSN and Crunchyroll.
Most of the divestitures have been related to content, either through creation, distribution, or monetization. As Stankey has split up the business however, the dream of taking on Google or Facebook as a leader in the advertising business has faded.
