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Outbrain, operating as Outbrain Direct Response, runs a performance marketing and advertising platform for the Open Internet, helping advertisers achieve measurable outcomes at scale. It serves marketers globally through offices worldwide.
Also known as Outbrain Inc. · Teads Holding Co.
Founders & leadership
Investors · 10
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Outbrain is an American web advertising and content recommendation platform founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City. It operates a native advertising business that uses targeted recommendation units to surface articles, slideshows, blog posts, photos, videos and product pages to readers on publisher sites and mobile platforms. Publishers use the units to monetise page real estate beyond standard display banners, while advertisers use them to reach readers already engaged with related editorial content.
The company scaled from a single recommendation widget into broader ad-tech infrastructure, later expanding its format mix into video and product recommendations and positioning itself for performance and outcome-based budgets. As of March 2019 its promoted articles appeared on 108,121 websites, and in 2020 it delivered an average of 10 billion recommendations per day for more than 20,000 advertisers. Reported revenue was $992 million in 2022.
Following its February 2025 acquisition of Teads, the combined business operates under the Teads name as an omnichannel platform for the open internet, combining Outbrain's predictive and AI optimisation technology with Teads' branding and omnichannel graph, and the corporate entity was renamed Teads Holding Co. in June.
Founding story
Outbrain was founded in 2006 in New York City by Yaron Galai and Ori Lahav, both former officers in the Israeli Navy. Galai had previously co-founded Ad4ever (1999) and Quigo, which he sold to AOL in 2007 for $363 million; Lahav had worked in research and development management at Shopping.com from 2003 to 2006, a company acquired by eBay in 2005. The founding premise was a market gap in which publishers needed better monetisation and advertisers wanted placements less disruptive than banner ads, addressed with performance-priced content discovery rather than display advertising.
Business model
Outbrain places recommendation feeds, widgets and link boxes (sometimes called chumboxes) on publisher pages and mobile platforms. Advertisers typically pay on a pay-per-click basis, and Outbrain shares the resulting revenue with the publishers hosting the units; approximately 75% of revenue is paid to the site or app that displayed the link. Some recommended items point to the publisher's own content, while others link to third-party sites.
Revenue is generated from advertisers paying per click on recommended links, with roughly 75% of that revenue shared with the publisher site or app that displayed the link. Reported revenue was $992 million in 2022.
Traction
Promoted articles appeared on 108,121 websites as of March 2019; in 2020 the platform delivered an average of 10 billion recommendations daily for more than 20,000 advertisers. Revenue was $992 million in 2022, and the company reported 850 employees. Its own website received about 124 million visits in a 30-day period reported in 2021.
Latest developments
Outbrain closed its acquisition of Teads on 4 February 2025 after receiving all necessary regulatory approvals. Under amended terms with Altice and Teads, total consideration was approximately $900 million: $625 million upfront cash plus 43.75 million Outbrain common shares valued at roughly $263 million based on the 31 January 2025 closing price of $6.01; the revised structure removed the deferred cash payment and convertible preferred equity component and reduced required debt financing. The merged business operates under the Teads brand as an omnichannel outcomes platform led by CEO David Kostman, with Jeremy Arditi as co-president and chief business officer, and completed its corporate renaming to Teads Holding Co. in June.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Outbrain is described as one of two major players in the content recommendation/chumbox category alongside Taboola, and both are characterised as alternatives to Google AdSense for publisher revenue. It is positioned as a scaled ad-tech partner with premium publisher reach; after the Teads merger the combined company is described as one of the largest optimised supply paths on the premium open internet.
Outbrain is most often compared with Taboola. It claimed to differentiate itself by pre-filtering spammy links before display, whereas Taboola offered a user-feedback feature called Taboola Choice. Sources also cite its patent and trademark portfolio (52 patents in the computing and calculating category and 17 registered trademarks), its focus on placement within premium publisher environments rather than low-quality inventory, and, post-merger, proprietary predictive technology and AI optimisation combined with Teads' omnichannel graph.
Technology
The platform uses targeted advertising and content recommendation technology based on click prediction, page-level relevance, article signals and reader behaviour to surface related articles, videos and products. In 2021 the recommendation algorithm was revamped to incorporate machine learning and artificial intelligence. The company holds 52 patents in the computing and calculating category. Post-merger, the combined offering emphasises AI-powered predictive technology and an expanded omnichannel graph supporting contextual, audience and purchase-based targeting, including CTV.
Go-to-market
Outbrain sells to publishers by offering recommendation units that monetise editorial pages through revenue sharing, and to advertisers on a pay-per-click performance basis. Its distribution scaled with adoption by premium publishers, where the recommendation unit became embedded in the page rather than an add-on, and later broadened toward enterprise and brand/performance advertising budgets.
Online publishers and media companies seeking to monetise editorial pages, and advertisers, brands, agencies, e-commerce companies and performance marketers seeking reach on the open web; in 2020 the platform served over 20,000 advertisers.
Geography
Headquartered in New York City with operations also based in Israel, and global offices listed in London, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., Cologne, Gurugram, Paris, Ljubljana, Munich, Milan, Madrid, Tokyo, São Paulo, Netanya, Singapore and Sydney. The company's website traffic is reported as most popular in the United States.
History
Outbrain first marketed its content discovery platform in 2006 from New York City and grew from a recommendation widget into infrastructure embedded in premium publisher pages, adapting as traffic shifted from desktop to mobile. It expanded through six acquisitions: Surphace (February 2011), Scribit (December 2012), Visual Revenue (March 2013), Revee (early 2016), Zemanta (July 2017) and Ligatus (February 2019). In October 2019 Outbrain announced an intention to merge with rival Taboola under the Taboola brand, but the two companies ended merger discussions in September 2020. Outbrain raised $200 million ahead of its IPO in July 2021 and went public on Nasdaq that month under the ticker OB, offering 8 million shares priced at $20 (below the marketed range) for $160 million in proceeds. Co-founder Yaron Galai resigned in February 2024 after 17 years, reported amid disappointing financial results. In August 2024 Outbrain agreed to merge with Teads in an approximately $1 billion transaction; the deal closed on 4 February 2025 on amended terms of roughly $900 million, and in June the combined company completed its renaming from Outbrain Inc. to Teads Holding Co., trading on Nasdaq under TEAD.
Risks & controversies
The quality of Outbrain's recommendations has been repeatedly debated, and the company has been associated with clickbait and low-quality 'chumbox' advertising. In November 2012, responding to criticism over low-quality links, Outbrain said it would stop showing such links and estimated the change would cut revenue by 25%, arguing it was necessary for long-term reputation with publishers and users. In 2021 it revamped its algorithm using machine learning and AI to improve ad quality, though criticism of recommendation quality persisted. Co-founder Yaron Galai's February 2024 departure was reported as occurring amid disappointing financial results. The abandoned 2019-2020 Taboola merger and the renegotiated Teads terms indicate execution and financing risk in large transactions.
Compiled by commissioned research from 4 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
2 people who came through Ligatus went on to found or lead other companies.
Timeline · 21
launches, deals, and filingsThe combined company completed its corporate renaming following the Teads acquisition.
Following receipt of regulatory approvals, Outbrain closed the Teads acquisition under amended terms: total consideration of approximately $900m, consisting of $625m upfront cash and 43.75 million Outbrain common shares valued at roughly $263m based on the January 31, 2025 closing price of $6.01. No deferred cash payment or convertible preferred equity component remained. The combined company operates under the Teads name.
$900M source ↗
Total consideration of approximately $900m: $625m upfront cash plus 43.75 million Outbrain common shares valued at roughly $263m based on the January 31, 2025 closing price of $6.01. No deferred cash payment or convertible preferred equity. Combined company operates under the Teads name.
$900M source ↗
Outbrain and Teads announced plans to merge in an approximately $1 billion transaction; the original share purchase agreement with Altice and Teads was dated August 1, 2024.
$1B source ↗
Announced plans to merge in an approximately $1 billion transaction; share purchase agreement with Altice and Teads dated August 1, 2024.
$1B source ↗
Yaron Galai stepped down after 17 years, reported amid disappointing financial results.
$200M source ↗
Outbrain went public in July 2021, offering 8 million shares and bringing in $160 million; the IPO was priced at $20 per share, below the range, and the company listed under the ticker 'OB'.
$160M source ↗
$200M source ↗
Outbrain revamped its recommendation algorithm to incorporate machine learning and artificial intelligence with the stated aim of improving ad quality.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 4
primary sources listed
- Outbrain - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org · web
4 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Ligatus do?
- Outbrain is a New York-based native advertising and content recommendation platform that acquired Teads and renamed itself Teads Holding Co.
- Who founded Ligatus?
- Ligatus was founded by Yaron Galai.
- Who are Ligatus's investors?
- Ligatus's investors include Felicis Ventures, GapMinder, Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Rhodium, SmartGateVC, STS Ventures GmbH, Susquehanna Growth Equity and 2 more.