ValueClick Sells 'Non-Core' Units

ValueClick is selling off two business units that have little or nothing to do with digital advertising, its mainstay, for $18 million.

The more prominent of those businesses, Mediaplex Systems, was acquired this morning by Chicago-based media planning platform vendor MediaBank. Tools in the Mediaplex Systems suite include AdVault, a media production and planning platform; eBusiness, a set of “efficiency enhancement” products; and ContentDepot, a digital asset management offering. ValueClick did not sell its Mediaplex Mojo ad management and e-mail products.

AdVault and its sibling products will be offered as a set of “add-ons and enhancements” to MediaBank’s existing cross-media planning and measurement products, according to a spokesperson. The company added the transaction will bring several new advertisers and agencies to its client roster.

Separately, ValueClick sold an e-commerce business for inkjet refill cartridges, originally acquired in 2005, to an undisclosed buyer. Previously called e-Babylon, the subsidiary has caused some trouble for its parent, most notably when the Federal Trade Commission found it had “failed to secure consumers’ sensitive financial information, despite claims to do so.”

As part of a settlement involving that finding along with CAN-SPAM violations committed by Hi-Speed Media, another ValueClick unit, the company was ordered to desist making incorrect claims about security of consumer data collected on e-commerce sites.

ValueClick made $18 million from the sale of both businesses, but did not disclose the value of each transaction. The company couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.