Advertising company Outbrain files for possible Nasdaq listing: WSJ

(Reuters) - Advertising company Outbrain Inc filed confidentially with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November seeking preliminary approval to list on the Nasdaq Stock Market, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. Outbrain, which publishes content recommendations on websites, is expected to seek a valuation of around $1 billion if a decision is made to go ahead, the Journal cited one person as saying. (http://on.wsj.com/1xXb1Uk) It was unclear how much of the company it would seek to sell in any listing, the newspaper said. Outbrain could not immediately be reached for comment outside regular U.S. business hours. Thursday is the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday. The company has tapped Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as lead underwriters for any listing, the Journal cited the people as saying. Outbrain - which employs more than 350 people, according to its website - is aiming to go public in the first quarter of 2015 if the filing passes SEC scrutiny, the newspaper said. (Reporting by Sagarika Jaisinghani in Bangalore; Editing by Eric Walsh)