NetZero to Buy Simpli.com in Bid to Bolster Targeted Advertising

Free Internet service provider NetZero said Thursday that it would buy Web search firm Simpli.com for more than $22 million in cash and stock to bolster its ability to sell lucrative targeted advertisements to its more than 4 million customers.

Privately held Simpli.com has developed technology that helps companies identify consumers who are likely to be interested in their products. And Westlake Village-based NetZero is trying to turn as many of the 2.5 billion ads it displays each month into targeted ads because advertisers pay a premium for them.

Simpli.com has “figured out a way to figure out where you go and what you do on the Web and start showing you targeted messages based on what you like to do,” said Mark Goldston, CEO of NetZero.

Simpli.com’s technology will also bolster NetZero’s new CyberTarget online market research division, Goldston said.

NetZero spends between $4 and $5 a month per customer providing Net access and tries to make at least that much by selling ads that appear on customers’ computer screens as they surf the Web.

NetZero will pay about $2.6 million in cash and issue approximately 2.5 million shares of its common stock for Simpli.com, which will remain in Providence, R.I. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of the calendar year.

NetZero shares fell 44 cents to close at $7.94 on Nasdaq Thursday.