Google Hired Lazard for Potential Ad Exchange Sale in 2020

Alphabet Inc.’s Google hired investment bank Lazard Inc. to evaluate the potential sale of its advertising exchange unit in 2020, according to court testimony on Wednesday. A federal judge declared last April that the business is an illegal monopoly.

The bank conducted a review of the ad tech market and potential buyers, identifying a number of companies that may be interested in the platform. Oracle Corp., Adobe Inc., SAP SE and Salesforce Inc. were among some of the top firms that the bank found as potential buyers, according to the testimony in Virginia federal court. Others included ad tech firm The Trade Desk as well as a slew of private equity firms such as Centerbridge Partners, GTCR, Blackstone and GI Partners, the court exhibit showed.