How Smart Was ValueClick's Acquisition?

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Sometimes it's helpful for smaller players to follow the moves of the big boys. And maybe that's why two years after Google (Nasdaq: GOOG ) bought AdMob for around $750 million, ValueClick (Nasdaq: VCLK ) -- probably following in Google's footsteps -- recently bought Greystripe Inc. for $70 million in cash.

Imitation is one of the highest forms of flattery. But is it good for shareholders? Let's see.

Let me introduce Greystripe
Based in San Francisco, Greystripe is one of the leading mobile advertising companies in U.S., providing billions of ads to over 30 million mobile phone users through more than 3,000 mobile advertising platforms. It is known for its excellent engagement and conversion rate, better coverage, and customized targeting for advertisers. What it also provides is higher revenues for the publishers and superb ad experience for the users.

Great strategy in mind
Through this deal, ValueClick is clearly aiming to get better exposure in the mobile advertising market over time by leveraging the management experience, clientele base, and expected goodwill of a smaller, more specialized player in the market.

Needless to say, the US mobile advertising market is a huge and booming one. The industry notched up around $1.1 billion in revenues in 2010 -- and this figure is expected to double by 2013. The acquisition should add around $24 million to $26 million to ValueClick's top-line and an extra $2 million to $3 million in adjusted EBITDA for the rest of 2011. On top of this, ValueClick can leverage its scale to make this deal immediately more accretive in years two, three, four, and beyond. I certainly am anticipating expansion of market coverage for ValueClick here.

This is a solid deal for ValueClick in my mind. If you just forget the stats for a moment, you can see that we are living in a mobile revolution, and newer technologies like near field communication are just inevitable.

So, ValueClick can either stick with its bread-and-butter digital business or move with the flow and flourish. I guess ValueClick has chosen the latter. And it's not only ValueClick that is bent on tapping the opportunity. Even competitor Marchex (Nasdaq: MCHX ) recently bought Jingle Networks for $62.5 million in cash and stock. There's a lot of consolidation going on in this bustling industry and it seems people are fast jumping onto the bandwagon. So, what's my opinion?

For my Foolish friends
Well, first quarter results are out, but let's wait for the next quarter results when this deal begins to reveal its strength (or lack thereof). That should give us a better understanding of the short-term financial impact and give us better insight into the long-term strategic future.

In short, I would want to wait for the next quarter results for a better judgment. What do you say?

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

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Fool Contributor Suman Chatterjee does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned in this article. ValueClick is a Motley Fool Big Short short-sale pick. Google is a Motley Fool Inside Value recommendation. Google is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers pick. The Fool owns shares of Google. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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