Telenor sells Tapad for NOK 2.5 billion – four years after...

Telenor reports on Thursday night that the company is selling the advertising technology company Tapad to Experian. The sale gives Telenor a book gain of NOK 2.1 billion.

The agreement values ​​Tapad at NOK 2.5 billion.

The sale takes place four years after Telenor bought Tapad for 350 million dollars – 3.2 billion kroner at the then krone exchange rate.

In the years following Telenor’s acquisition, Telenor has written down the value of Tapad a number of times in the accounts, for several billion kroner. This means that Telenor has assumed that Tapad was worth far less than they originally paid for Tapad: After two years, the book value of Tapad was NOK 400 million.

The reason was, among other things, weaker results in the USA and lower-than-expected growth in the data segment.

Hanne Knudsen, Head of Communications at Telenor, says they are satisfied with the sale.

– The sale is a continuation of Telenor’s strategy to focus on its core business and simplify our portfolio. We believe it is a reasonable price, and it reflects the good results Tapad has delivered in recent years, she writes in an email to DN.

– Did Tapad ever become a pervasive part of Telenor’s business?

– When we bought Tapad, their technology and expertise contributed to accelerating Telenor’s learning curve in digital marketing and distribution. Tapad’s technology has also been used in several of Telenor’s markets. As I said, Tapad has delivered good results in recent years, but is not currently part of Telenor’s core business. Therefore, Experian is a better owner for Tapad in the future.

The gain of NOK 2.1 billion is calculated on the basis of the book value of Tapad, ie the value Telenor itself has written in the accounts that Tapad has had.

Tapad was started by technology founder Are Traasdahl, who earned NOK 1.5 billion when he sold Tapad to Telenor in 2016. (Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For further terms see here.