Dive Brief: 

• Media-buying platform Rocket Fuel announced a deal to buy data management platform [x+1] for approximately $200 million in cash and stock. 
• The move will propel Rocket Fuel into marketing cloud territory, allowing the firm to more directly compete with the likes of Oracle, Salesforce, and Adobe. 
• The [x+1] deal is expected to generate $22 million for Rocket Fuel by the end of the year. 

Dive Insight: 

The marketing cloud race is an aggressive one, so Rocket Fuel will soon find itself playing with the big dogs. Developing marketing cloud options will prove beneficial when serving customers. Now Rocket Fuel should be able to handle direct relationships rather than just agencies, which should prove lucrative for the firm in the future.