Adam Singolda: The Taboola Founder Behind the 30-Year Yahoo Deal

Adam Singolda is the Israeli founder and CEO of Taboola (NASDAQ: TBLA) — the New York-headquartered content-recommendation platform that powers the "you might also like" content boxes across most of the open web outside of the Google-Meta-Amazon walled gardens. Born September 6, 1981, Singolda served seven years as a cryptological engineer in the Israeli Defense Forces before founding Taboola in New York in 2007. Taboola listed on Nasdaq via SPAC merger in June 2021 at a $2.6 billion valuation, signed a 30-year exclusive Yahoo partnership in November 2022 — the longest-tenor commercial agreement in open-web advertising history — and reported $1.8 billion in gross revenue in 2024. Approximately 2,000 employees in 22 countries; more than 15,000 advertisers; recommendations reaching approximately 1.4 billion people monthly.

Before Taboola

Singolda spent seven years as a cryptological engineer in the Israeli Defense Forces before starting his commercial career. He came from an entrepreneurial family: his father Avi Singolda is a well-known Israeli studio guitarist and bandleader who once played "Here Comes the Sun" with Sir George Martin.

Living in Israel as a young person, Adam launched a babysitting-and-tutoring syndicate and a short-lived text-based news-and-entertainment alert product called 24Go. Neither scaled. He moved to New York with the thesis that would become Taboola.

The 2007 Founding and the Category Definition

Taboola was founded in 2007 in New York. The name came from the Latin tabula rasa ("blank slate"), combined with the "oo" motif of Facebook, Yahoo, and Google. The domain taboola.com was available at incorporation for $10.

The founding thesis: publishers and content platforms need a recommendation engine that keeps readers on-site or moving to adjacent sites in a syndicated network, monetizing the "moment of next" between the article a reader just finished and whatever they read next. Singolda has described Taboola's positioning as the layer that lives outside the walled gardens — "Google is Search, Facebook is Social, we want to be everything in between."

Early product-market fit was slow. Taboola cycled through business models — flat fees for a video recommendation engine, revenue-share on views — before landing on the sponsored-content unit that became the industry standard. By 2018 the company was projecting more than $1 billion in annual revenue.

The 2021 SPAC Listing

Taboola went public in June 2021 via a SPAC merger with ION Acquisition Corp at a $2.6 billion valuation, listing on Nasdaq under the ticker TBLA. The 2021 listing sat in the middle of a broader Israeli SPAC cycle; Taboola priced at the high end of that window.

In 2021, Taboola also acquired Connexity (formerly Shopzilla) for approximately $800 million, extending the platform into e-commerce and retail recommendations. That vertical now drives more than one million monthly transactions with brands including Walmart, Macy's, Wayfair, Skechers, and eBay.

The 2022 Yahoo Partnership — Longest Ad Deal in Industry History

On November 28, 2022, Taboola announced a 30-year exclusive commercial agreement with Yahoo — the longest-tenor advertising deal ever signed in the industry. Under the terms, Yahoo received just under 25 percent of Taboola's pro forma equity, becoming the company's largest single shareholder, and Taboola received an exclusive license to sell advertising across all Yahoo-affiliated properties including Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Mail, AOL, and TechCrunch. The deal closed in Q1 2023 subject to Israeli regulatory approval.

At announcement, Singolda framed Yahoo as "an internet hero and an iconic brand with 900 million monthly active users." Taboola shares rose more than 43 percent on the news, lifting market cap to $653 million on the day. Taboola projected the partnership would add approximately $1 billion in annual revenue at scale, moving the company toward a projected $2.5 billion annual run rate.

The 2024 Results and the 2025 Reset

The Yahoo partnership contributed but did not deliver the projected $1 billion of incremental revenue. In 2024, Taboola reported its strongest profitability metrics since 2021: gross revenue of $1.8 billion (+23 percent), net revenue after traffic-acquisition costs of $668 million (+25 percent), net income of $122.4 million (quadrupled), and operating cash flow of $184 million (more than doubled from $84 million in 2023). Singolda called 2024 a transformative year.

The 2025 outlook is more measured. Taboola guided gross revenue of approximately $1.85 billion (a 2 percent increase), with net revenue and net income roughly flat at ~$680 million and ~$120 million respectively — reflecting both the maturation of the Yahoo run-rate and a strategic product pivot to make the recommendation unit more attractive to advertisers repurposing existing creative rather than producing bespoke units.

In 2024, Taboola also signed a partnership with Apple to power advertising in Apple News. Singolda has publicly framed the current strategic phase as "Taboola's Amazon moment" — the platform transition from a native-ads specialist into a broader open-web recommendation and monetization layer.

Why Adam Singolda Matters to the Israeli Ad-Tech Story

Taboola sits at a specific intersection: an Israeli-founded, IDF-trained CEO running a New York-headquartered public company whose product is the monetization layer for the open web outside the Google-Meta-Amazon walled gardens. The 30-year Yahoo deal — the longest of its kind in the industry — is one of the more consequential commercial commitments in open-web advertising infrastructure, and the Connexity acquisition extended the platform into e-commerce recommendations at scale. Singolda has framed his mission as the "Robin Hood of journalism on the open internet" — the commercial layer that keeps independent publishers viable outside walled-garden distribution.

For adjacent Israeli enterprise founder profiles, see Shlomi Ben Haim on JFrog and Yossi Carmil on Cellebrite.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Adam Singolda?
Israeli founder and CEO of Taboola (NASDAQ: TBLA). Born September 6, 1981. Spent seven years as a cryptological engineer in the IDF before founding Taboola in New York in 2007.

When did Taboola go public?
June 2021 via SPAC merger with ION Acquisition Corp at a $2.6 billion valuation. Ticker TBLA on Nasdaq.

What is the Yahoo partnership?
A 30-year exclusive commercial agreement announced November 2022 and closed Q1 2023. Yahoo received just under 25 percent of Taboola's pro forma equity, becoming largest single shareholder. Taboola received an exclusive license to sell advertising across Yahoo News, Finance, Sports, Mail, AOL, and TechCrunch. The longest-tenor advertising deal in industry history.

What was Taboola's 2024 revenue?
Gross revenue $1.8 billion (+23%). Net revenue (after traffic-acquisition costs) $668 million (+25%). Net income $122.4 million (quadrupled year-over-year). Operating cash flow $184 million (more than doubled).

How large is Taboola today?
Approximately 2,000 employees in 22 countries. More than 15,000 advertisers. Recommendations reaching approximately 1.4 billion people monthly. New York headquartered with global engineering. Approximately 9,000 publisher partners including Yahoo, CNBC, BBC, NBC News, Business Insider, The Independent, and El Mundo.