Xandr

Xandr, Inc.

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Advertising, Analytics
Founded	2018
Founder	AT&T (as parent)
Fate	Integrated into Microsoft Advertising; brand phased out by 2023
Headquarters	New York City , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Brian Lesser (former CEO), Mike Welch (former CEO), Kirk McDonald (former interim CEO)
Products	Community (online advertising platform), Xandr Invest (demand-side platform), Clypd (audience-targeted TV ad sales platform)
Number of employees	1800
Parent	Microsoft (since June 2022)

Xandr, Inc. (pronounced "Zander") functioned as the advertising and analytics division of Microsoft, managing an online platform called Community designed for the exchange and acquisition of consumer-focused digital advertisements.

In December 2021, AT&T agreed to transfer ownership of Xandr—including AppNexus and Clypd—to Microsoft for an undisclosed sum. The transaction was finalized in June 2022.

By 2023, Microsoft phased out the Xandr brand, integrating its operations under the Microsoft Advertising umbrella.

In 2025, Microsoft revealed plans to discontinue its buy-side Invest solution by early 2026.

History

Following AT&T’s acquisition of AppNexus in June 2018, Xandr was established as a national marketplace specializing in TV advertising.

Xandr made its debut on September 25, 2018, during the AT&T Relevance Conference. The brand name pays tribute to AT&T’s founder, Alexander Graham Bell.

In June 2019, the AppNexus demand-side platform was rebranded as Xandr Invest, positioning it as the core tool for ad purchasing.

On October 18, 2019, Xandr expanded by acquiring Clypd, a Massachusetts-based platform focused on audience-targeted TV ad sales.

Xandr became part of WarnerMedia on April 30, 2020.

During 2020, AT&T explored divesting Xandr along with DirecTV and Crunchyroll to alleviate debt from the WarnerMedia acquisition and to address conflicts caused by Xandr’s connection to AT&T and HBO Max, which had discouraged certain advertisers.

On May 17, 2021, WarnerMedia declared a merger with Discovery, Inc. to create Warner Bros. Discovery, with Xandr remaining under AT&T’s control.

AT&T’s sale of Xandr—including AppNexus and Clypd—to Microsoft was announced on December 21, 2021, subject to regulatory approval.

Microsoft completed the purchase on June 6, 2022, investing approximately $1 billion to enhance its advertising and retail media offerings.

Leadership

- In 2017, Brian Lesser—formerly CEO of GroupM North America—was appointed CEO of AT&T’s advertising and analytics division. - Lesser resigned in March 2020; Mike Welch took over leadership at Xandr until it was merged into Microsoft Advertising. - Kirk McDonald served as interim CEO after Lesser’s departure before leaving for GroupM in August 2020.

Operations

In May 2019, Xandr introduced Community, a video marketplace that connects advertisers with publishers and media entities such as Warner Bros. Discovery networks (CNN, TNT, TruTV, Bleacher Report), Vice Media, Hearst Communications, Philo, Tubi, Xumo, Vudu, and Bloomberg.

Xandr’s approach to consumer-focused advertising combined data assets, WarnerMedia content libraries, AppNexus technology platforms, and AT&T’s network infrastructure to deliver personalized advertisements concurrently to diverse viewers. Initial revenues were largely driven by DirecTV sales. The company employed roughly 1,800 staff worldwide, including about 60 employees across Europe.

On April 30, 2020, AT&T announced the integration of WarnerMedia with Xandr following Lesser’s exit.

In 2023, Netzpolitik.org published an analysis of Xandr’s inventory file that disclosed detailed user segmentation practices within Europe.