Freestar Is Now Part of Stagwell: What It Means for Publishers

What was announced

Stagwell announced the acquisition on October 26, 2026. According to Stagwell’s quarterly filing with the SEC, the deal closed on October 23, 2026, when Stagwell bought all outstanding stock of Publisher First, Inc., which does business as Freestar.

Trade press reported the price as undisclosed (AdExchanger, MediaPost). The SEC filing does give terms. Stagwell paid $50.0 million at closing: $30.0 million in 3,442,043 shares of Class A common stock and $20.0 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments. The sellers can earn up to $60 million more if Freestar hits financial targets for periods running from 2027 into 2030.

Freestar now sits inside Stagwell’s Owned Media unit, part of its Media and Commerce segment. Ben Berentson, CEO of Owned Media, leads it (Stagwell, MediaPost).

What Stagwell says it will do with Freestar

In its announcement, Stagwell said Freestar will join its Media and Commerce ecosystem to grow its Owned Media portfolio, improve audience intelligence, and build “a more streamlined supply path.” Stagwell also said Freestar customers “will have more direct access to advertisers and tools.” The deal supports Stagwell’s Future of News initiative too.

Other details from the coverage:

• Stagwell’s own properties will use Freestar. Digiday reports that Ink, the travel publisher, and the airport network ReachTV will now rely on Freestar for their programmatic sales (Digiday).
• Stagwell is buying the company, not the publishers. Berentson told AdExchanger that Stagwell is not acquiring the publishers in Freestar’s network, only the technology they use to monetize and the existing client relationships. He also said advertisers decide whether to include Freestar inventory in a campaign (AdExchanger).
• No plans to micromanage partners. Per AdExchanger, Berentson said Stagwell has no plans to micromanage Freestar’s partnerships with DSPs, SSPs, or other ad tech vendors.
• Scale. AdExchanger describes Freestar’s network as more than 1,000 publishers serving nearly a billion ad requests a day (AdExchanger). Freestar says it has driven more than $1 billion in revenue for publishers over the past decade (Stagwell).

What Freestar says stays the same

Freestar has been direct about this. MediaPost reports that Freestar keeps its branding and that CEO Kurt Donnell and founder David Freedman stay in their roles (MediaPost). Stagwell will keep all of Freestar’s employees and its executive team (AdExchanger).

Donnell told AdExchanger: “We’re keeping the same name, the same leadership, the same team and the same offerings. Publishers will keep working with the same account, yield and support people.” In a LinkedIn post, he wrote: “Same team, same leadership, same agreements. If you work with us today, you’ll work with the same people tomorrow, on the same terms.”

For context, this is not Freestar’s first big change. It ranked No. 1 on the 2019 Inc. 5000 with $36.9 million in 2018 revenue (AdExchanger). Abry Partners became its first institutional investor in December 2020 (Freestar). In 2021 Freestar acquired Sortable (Freestar) and Triple13 (GlobeNewswire).

What can change when an ad partner joins a holding company

When an independent ad partner becomes part of a larger group, change usually comes slowly, through product roadmaps, new demand relationships, and contract renewals. Some of it may help publishers. Stagwell and Freestar both point to more direct paths to advertisers and more investment in pubOS.

Trade press has also raised fair questions. Digiday noted that a holding company that buys media now also owns a company that sells it for publishers, which “raises questions about how Stagwell will keep its buying and selling interests apart.” That doesn’t mean anything will go wrong. It means it’s reasonable to ask how it will work.

Questions to ask your ad partner

These are good questions for any monetization partner after an ownership change, Freestar or anyone else. Get the answers in writing.

• Contract terms. Does my current agreement carry over unchanged? Will my renewal terms, term length, or notice period change? What does it take to exit, and how much notice do I need to give?
• Revenue share. Will my revenue share or fees change, now or at renewal? Will revenue from Stagwell-related demand be reported and shared the same way as other demand?
• Payment terms. Are payment schedules (for example net-30 or net-60), currency, and payment entity staying the same? Will invoices or payments come from a new legal entity?
• Data ownership. Who owns the audience and performance data from my site? Will it be shared with Stagwell’s other businesses or used to train their tools? Can I opt out?
• ads.txt and sellers.json. Will any seller IDs, seller domains, or ads.txt lines change? If so, when, and will you send me the exact lines before the switch so buyers don’t lose sight of my inventory?
• Demand and supply path. Will Stagwell-owned demand get any priority in my auctions? Will my current SSP and DSP partners stay in place?
• Account management. Who is my account manager now, and will that change? Will support hours or response times change?

A good partner will answer all of these clearly. Freestar has already said publicly that agreements, terms, and contacts stay the same, so most of these should be quick to confirm.

Sulvo has no lock-in contracts

If you’re reviewing your ad setup anyway, it helps to know your options. Sulvo has no lock-in contracts. You’re never stuck in a long-term agreement just to keep your ads running.

Get a free revenue diagnostic

Whatever partner you use, it’s worth checking how your site looks to buyers right now. Sulvo’s free 100-point publisher revenue diagnostic reads the public evidence on your site, including your ad stack, ads.txt, consent, and delivery, and shows you what it finds. You just enter your domain and email. There’s nothing to install and no call needed.

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