AT&T Sells Xandr Ad Business to Microsoft for $1 Billion

  • Carrier sought buyer for non-core unit for more than a year
  • Xandr was formed in 2018 from AT&T’s advertising operations

An AT&T store in El Cerrito, California.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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AT&T Inc. agreed to sell its Xandr division to Microsoft Corp., a long-anticipated divestiture after the carrier decided digital advertising wasn’t central to its operations.

The transaction gives customers on Microsoft’s properties, such as MSN, access to Xandr’s marketplace for automated online advertising, the companies said Tuesday in a statementBloomberg Terminal that didn’t disclose financial terms. The deal is valued at about $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing non-public information.