Cadent to Acquire AdTheorent; Microsoft to Separate Teams and Office Amid Antitrust Scrutiny; Google to Destroy Data to Settle Chrome Incognito Tracking Lawsuit

by Aimee Newell Tarín on 3rd Apr 2024 in News

On today’s news digest: Cadent to Acquire AdTheorent; Microsoft to Separate Teams and Office Amid Antitrust Scrutiny; Google to Destroy Data to Settle Chrome Incognito Tracking Lawsuit

Cadent, one of the largest solutions providers for converged TV advertising, has announced it will be acquiring AdTheorent, a leader in machine learning-driven programmatic advertising, for a sum of approximately £260m. Both companies will combine to form an independent omnichannel audience activation platform for buyers and sellers across the advertising ecosystem, catering to both digital and traditional TV markets.

Amid the ongoing antitrust scrutiny, Microsoft will be separating its Office product from its video app Teams for all global sales – both products will now be sold separately worldwide. This follows the separation of both products in Europe last year to avoid the risk of an antitrust fine from EU regulators. Microsoft has been under the watchful eye of the European Commission since 2020 for tying both products together, after a complaint was filed by workspace messaging app Slack.

Staying in the realm of big tech, Google has agreed to destroy billions of private browsing records to settle a lawsuit claiming it secretly tracked Chrome users on incognito mode. Under the settlement, the tech giant will also update disclosures about the data it collects from private browsing, as well as letting incognito users block third party cookies for five years. Google will collect less data from users’ private browsing sessions, as well as making less money from this data. The terms of the settlement were filed on Monday, and still require approval from a US district judge.