Portfolio.
Michael Stephanblome. Adjug
AdJug is an online advertising marketplace. It connects buyers and sellers of online advertising and provides them with transparency, control and choice. Publishers can take control of their online inventory to increase their earnings and advertisers can run better campaigns because they know where each conversion and traffic is coming from. AdJug was founded in 2007 by Satish Jayakumar and Michael Stephanblome. Their idea was to improve the way advertising gets bought and sold through ad networks by connecting advertisers and publishers directly with each other. AdJug seeks to become Europe's leading online advertising marketplace. Adjug was acquired by Tomorrow Focus AG, the Munich-based internet media group, in December 2009.
Michael Stephanblome
Michael brings over 10 years experience in all aspects of internet advertising to AdJug. He has an extensive background in general management, marketing, sales and product development both in small and large growth businesses and a deep knowledge of strategic marketing with regards to online marketplaces.
Before founding AdJug, Michael was the Managing Director of Gumtree.com, the UK's leading online classifieds site which was acquired by eBay in 2005. Michael took the company from break even to high margin profitability doubling annual revenues, users and traffic. Prior to that Michael was eBay's Marketing Director in Germany for over three years, directly responsible for a 100+ million dollar annual marketing budget and managing, building a high-powered marketing team.
During his tenure, eBay's reach in Germany grew from 6% to over 50%. Michael started out as eBay's Head of Categories in Germany in 2001. Other positions included Managing Director of web startup urbia.com UK Ltd and Head of Interactive at Zippel Communications. Michael holds a BA in Journalism from Cologne Journalism School and a Master of Business from Cologne University.
