• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 3, 2015

In its first major acquisition since itself being acquired by telecommunications giant Verizon, AOL this morning announced a deal to buy mobile app advertising network Millennial Media for $1.75 per share, a 30% premium over Wednesday’s closing price for the publicly-traded firm’s common stock.

The deal will add one of the largest suppliers of mobile app advertising impressions to AOL’s programmatic and direct selling infrastructure. Millennial Media claims a network affiliated with more than 65,000 app publishers.

AOL said the reach will significantly boost the audience scale of its ONE by AOL platform, boosting its access to “approximately 1 billion global active unique users and robust addressable and cross-screen targeting capabilities.”

“AOL is well positioned as consumers spend more and more time on mobile devices, and as advertisers, agencies and publishers become more reliant on programmatic monetization tools,” said Bob Lord, President, AOL. “As we continue to invest in our platforms and technology, the acquisition of Millennial Media accelerates our competitive mobile offering in ONE by AOL and enhances our current publisher offering with an ‘all in’ monetization platform for app developers.”