8 hot adtech acquisition targets to watch

Hi! Welcome to the Insider Advertising daily for December 21. I'm Lauren Johnson, a senior advertising reporter at Business Insider. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Send me feedback or tips at LJohnson@businessinsider.com.

Today's news: The adtech companies that are hot acquisition targets, WPP slashes office space, and WarnerMedia's executive turnover.

8 companies that experts say could be acquired as digital advertising firms grow hot again

• Growth in adtech stocks, SPACs, and private equity has fueled interest in adtech deals this year.
• I spoke with a handful of investors, consultants and bankers to predict which companies could be sold in the coming year.
• They named eight companies that help marketers buy and measure TV ads and navigate changes like the death of third-party cookies.

Read the full story here.

WPP is ditching several New York offices as the advertising giant looks to slash its real estate costs by 20% worldwide

• WPP is shedding as much as one-third of its office space in New York City as part of a plan to cut real estate costs up to 20% by 2025, Patrick Coffee and Daniel Geiger report.
• WPP will ditch 600,000 square feet of space in Manhattan, displacing agencies Ogilvy, Geometry, and AKQA.
• The moves are examples of the stark cutbacks that tenants have made to their footprints during the pandemic.

Read the full story here.

WarnerMedia has lost at least 35 top execs since Jason Kilar became CEO and began a massive reorg focused on streaming. Here are all the leaders who have exited.

• Ashley Rodriguez and Claire Atkinson report that WarnerMedia has parted ways with at least 35 top execs since Jason Kilar became CEO in May.
• Some of the people were dismissed as part of a reorganization that led to mass layoffs at the company this year, while others elected to exit or retire like longtime Warner Bros. TV boss Peter Roth.
• The list was compiled by reviewing articles, talking with current and former employees, and speaking with recruiters to compile a list of the departed execs.

Read the full story here.

More stories we're reading:

• INTERVIEW: Facebook's policy and privacy director discusses the intentions behind its amped up anti-Apple campaign (Business Insider)
• Frito-Lay hired influencers to make a TV commercial remotely because of the pandemic and said it ended up being cheaper, faster, and more effective than a traditional spot (Business Insider)
• Hulu insiders say a scrapped international expansion and changing culture have made them question what the streamer's future looks like under Disney (Business Insider)
• Public relations firm APCO Worldwide nabbed a top Oracle vet to spearhead a bigger push for technology clients (Business Insider)
• WPP presentation deck shows how the world's biggest advertising company plans to reverse declines by pushing into tech and e-commerce (Business Insider)
• Univision plans Spanish-language streaming service under new CEO (Bloomberg)
• How the turbulence of 2020 affected Facebook ad prices (Adweek)

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at LJohnson@businessinsider.com and subscribe to this daily email here.