€214.9 million for Zanox - Cheap?

Whilst away at the Linkshare Summit, I learned that Berlin based Zanox are being acquired for €214.9 million plus a success-dependent payment by two companies, Axel Springer (a german publisher) paying 60% and PubliGroupe (a Swiss advertising agency) paying 40% of the total.

The founders remain committed to the company. The ‘anonymous’ chinese investment company who invested with a two didgit million figure for an undisclosed stake, I expect are happy with the deal.

Zanox do seem to struggle with foreign market culture, however they have great potential and an extremely solid technical infrastructure, we’ll have to wait and see whether this was a good deal.

Who’s next I wonder? I would suggest that there are two maybe three affiliate networks who are building for investment / takeover in the UK, I would not be surprised if we heard further news in the coming months.