The Google antitrust lawsuit might be the third most interesting story in adtech this week. Seriously. (But worth exploring, of course — see Ari Paparo’s latest.)
OpenWeb, an adtech company popular with publishers, is in turmoil as the board recently appointed Tim Harvey as interim CEO out of the blue. However, CEO and founder Nadav Shoval is refusing to step down.
Both execs have sent conflicting emails to employees and the market, with Shoval alleging OpenWeb’s board breached his contract and acted against the company’s interests.
Here’s a recent LinkedIn post from Shoval with more info. “I have not stepped down as OpenWeb’s CEO,” he writes.
To date, OpenWeb has raised nearly $200 million in funding, valuing the company at $1.5 billion.
Why This Matters:
OpenWeb has been under the radar but it’s a central part of the adtech ecosystem. Founded in Israel as Spot.IM in 2012 by Shoval and several others, the company provides tools for publishers’ comment sections and monetizes them by displaying ads in those sections.
For publishers like CNN, Fox, and Hearst, the value is pretty damn clear. OpenWeb’s tech encourages users to stay in the comments sections, then it collects data for ads. This lets advertisers connect with audiences via discussions made possible by OpenWeb.
The company now claims to have 150 million monthly active users across communities on over 5,000 publishers’ sites.
Experts React:
Yesterday, Shoval posted this on LinkedIn:
Our Take:
This is all sort of a mystery. Employees have been very tight lipped about the CEO situation. As more information comes in, we’ll report back.
