Time, Inc. has announced that it has acquired a majority stake in Viant Technologies, Inc., the ad network that is the parent company of MySpace.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed but it is reported that the founders of Viant, the Vanderhook family, will retain a minority stake in the company, and it will continue to trade as an independent business.

Founded in 1999 Viant’s primary business is its advertising platform, with its Viant Advertising Cloud providing marketers access to over 1.2 billion registered users, and is claimed by the company to be “one of the largest registered user databases in the world, infusing accuracy, reach and accountability into cross device advertising.”

Along with MySpace, the company also owns digital ad technology and media companies Specific Media, Vindico, and Xumo.

Time said the deal will enable them to combine their premium content, subscriber and visitor data, and advertising inventory with Viant’s first-party data and targeting capabilities to bring substantial value to clients of both platforms, and would accelerate their strategy of activating its user base across its portfolio of premium media brands.

“This acquisition is game changing for us,” Time Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joe Ripp said in a statement. “Marketers are selecting media partners that have either data-driven capabilities or premium content; we will be able to deliver both in a single platform, and will stand apart from those that offer just one or the other. In other words, we will be able to deliver advertisers’ messages targeted to optimal audiences across all types of devices, along with the ability to measure ROI.”

Forgotten

Of particular note in the media put out by both companies is no mention of MySpace as if the poor, once king of social networking, had been forgotten.

While MySpace itself has had a tumultuous history, when we last checked in on the site back in January 2015 it had, against all the odds, risen from the dead and while it won’t be challenging Facebook any time soon, its reborn persona as a music sharing platform was doing good numbers, hitting 50.6 million unique viewers in November 2014, up 575 percent from the same month in 2013.

We haven’t heard nor seen any figures since that time, so maybe the numbers were simply a one time aberration, but that said with Time’s power, and cross-promotional opportunities behind it maybe MySpace could actually be Lazarus risen from the dead.

No reference was given as to whether the deal closed or was waiting for regulatory approval.

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