The combination of T-Mobile Advertising Solutions’ products and Vistar’s leading digital-out-of-home advertising marketplace and platform will usher in a new era of relevant, measurable and engaging ads 

BELLEVUE, Wash., Jan 13, 2025 — T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Vistar Media, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital-out-of-home (DOOH) advertisements reaching millions of consumers throughout their daily lives.

Through the T-Mobile Advertising Solutions business, T-Mobile will acquire all of Vistar’s industry-leading capabilities. This includes its intelligent marketplace and technology solutions for buying, selling and managing media campaigns across a global network of more than 1.1 million digital screens provided by nearly 370 OOH media owners and serving more than 3,000 brand partner advertisers.

This combination will help transform the DOOH industry by leveraging Vistar’s end-to-end ad-tech platform and scale, together with T-Mobile’s unique customer insights and data. As a top marketer, connectivity provider and one of the largest physical in-store retail media network operators, T-Mobile will help marketers and advertisers reach consumers with more addressable and measurable solutions, delivering greater efficiency and ROI, while enhancing the consumer experience with more meaningful and engaging content.

“T-Mobile is always envisioning new ways to deliver for consumers and we see a tremendous opportunity to provide more relevant and personalized advertising,” said JP Colaco, SVP & Chief T-Ads Officer, T-Mobile. “Combining T-Mobile’s customer-centric approach and its expertise as one of the nations most scaled marketers, with Vistar’s leading out-of-home technology means advertisers can easily place their ads where they know their audience will be, improving every step of the customer journey. Together with Vistar, T-Mobile will deliver advertising solutions built by marketers, for marketers.”

“We are excited to join T-Mobile, a brand that truly understands the power and potential of out-of-home advertising,” said Michael Provenzano, CEO & Co-Founder of Vistar Media. “For 13 years, Vistar has pioneered using technology and data to transform OOH into a strategic and measurable channel. T-Mobile’s belief in the future of OOH – and their decision to acquire Vistar – underscores the strength of this channel. Together, we have the opportunity to enhance our offerings for customers and partners globally, and inspire brands to think bigger and redefine how they engage with audiences in the real world.”

DOOH represents a unique, useful, and dynamic channel for advertising in an increasingly digital world. According to eMarketer’s forecast, DOOH ad spending in 2025 will account for over one-third of the nearly $10 billion spent on OOH advertising in the U.S. The timing is perfect for this transformation as digital screens still represent a small percentage of the overall OOH advertising market and are becoming more accessible.

T-Mobile will pay approximately $600 million in cash, subject to closing adjustments. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2025, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals. Post close, the transaction is expected to be slightly accretive to EBITDA and represents additional upside to the company’s financial guidance shared during the company’s Capital Markets Day.

T-Mobile continues to expect to return up to $14 billion as part of its 2025 Shareholder Return Program. Depending on the actual timing of close for the company’s announced and still pending transactions, along with the company’s liquidity position and other capital allocation priorities, the company may consider allocating additional capital to the 2025 Shareholder Return Program.

For more information on how brands can give their audiences a better advertising experience, visit https://www.t-mobile.com/advertising-solutions.

Insider Take: Keep in mind that in July 2021, Lamar purchased a 20% stake in programmatic in Vistar Media for $30 million.  Lamar’s 20% share of the sale price of $600 million comes to $120 million or four times Lamar’s initial investment.  Not a bad investment and a big cash infusion to an already cash strong company.  Will someone please explain to us the business case for a mobile phone company buying an automated ad platform?  We don’t think this ends well for T-Mobile.

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