Walmart Pays $1.4B for French Ad-Tech Firm Vibe.co in Push to Challenge Amazon's Ad Dominance

Walmart is acquiring Vibe.co, a French connected-TV advertising technology company, for $1.4 billion — its largest deal since the $2.3 billion Vizio purchase in 2024. The move signals an aggressive push to build out a rival ad business to Amazon's, which currently dwarfs Walmart's advertising revenue.

The deal breaks down as $1.2 billion in cash to Vibe.co itself, plus roughly $180 million in retention payments to top executives — including CEO Arthur Querou and CTO Franck Tetzlaff — contingent on them staying at Walmart for at least four years. Both executives, along with other Vibe.co staff, will fold into Walmart's advertising unit.

Vibe.co specializes in helping small and medium-sized businesses run connected-TV ad campaigns — a segment that has historically lacked access to the sophisticated ad-buying infrastructure that larger brands enjoy. That focus fits neatly into Walmart's broader strategy: the retailer bought Vizio two years ago primarily to expand the surfaces on which it could sell ads, and has since turned Vizio into a store brand and integrated its operating system into its own TV lineup. Vibe.co's technology is meant to accelerate that platform's monetization by making it easier to launch and measure CTV campaigns.

Walmart's advertising segment has grown consistently but remains a fraction of Amazon's ad business, which generated over $56 billion in 2024. The Vibe.co acquisition makes clear that Walmart's leadership sees retail media — and connected TV in particular — as a major growth lever worth heavy capital investment.