A quiet market? Nah, Oracle's to pay $850m for ad-tracking Moat

Oracle's acquisition of digital advertising tracking business Moat has been valued at over $850m, according to reports.

The size of the deal, which was announced earlier this week, was reported by Recode, and the ad-measuring business's exit has excited onlookers in the space, coming after the company raised only an estimated $68m.

Moat's independence is a crucial sell to customers, measuring whether digital advertisements have been placed where they were meant to be. It is extended access by Google and Facebook to assess whether advertisements are appearing beside inappropriate material.

Although the deal hasn't closed, when it does Moat will join Oracle Data Cloud as an independent unit, pitched as offering data and analytics to make life easier and more efficient for marketers and publishers.

"I am thrilled to welcome CEO Jonah Goodhart and the entire Moat team to Oracle Data Cloud," said Eric Roza, SVP and general manager. "With the Moat acquisition, Oracle Data Cloud now offers brands and publishers a full suite of targeting and measurement solutions to improve the outcome of virtually every type of digital advertising campaign."

Goodhart said: "When Oracle approached us about working together, we began to see the huge potential to jointly drive innovation. At our core, we believe there is an opportunity to fundamentally improve marketing and storytelling by brands and publishers through better data and analytics." ®