WPP’s Penn Schoen Berland acquires First Movies International

April 19, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP’s wholly-owned global strategic communications consultancy firm Penn Schoen Berland has acquired First Movies International which has operations in London and Los Angeles.

Founded in 2000, First Movies is a research-based strategic consultancy that serves film companies on a global basis. Clients include many of the major film studios, independent distributors, production companies and industry affiliates. The business employs research consultants in the US and UK and key partners include Disney, Paramount, Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox.

First Movies’ capabilities will complement Penn Schoen Berland’s existing media and entertainment practice by giving it a bigger footprint and an increased capability to service its clients’ global research needs.

UK, London and USA, Los Angeles, CA

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Groupon acquires Ditto.me.

April 17, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Groupon has acquired Ditto.me.

Ditto.me is a mobile app to help users get quick recommendations about restaurants and movies. the business is just one year old. The acquisition was announced on the Ditto.me blog. Terms of the deal were not announced.

The company said, “We can’t reveal what we’ll be working on at Groupon but we are excited to give it 100% – to enable this, we’ll be winding down Ditto. On April 30th we’ll switch off the service and remove the app from Apple’s and Nokia’s stores*. We think you’ll love what we and Groupon dream up next.”

USA, Mountain View, CA & Chicago, IL

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Bloomsbury Publishing acquires Fairchild Books

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Bloomsbury Publishing’s US subsidiary, Bloomsbury Publishing Inc, has acquired Fairchild Books from Fairchild Fashion Media, a unit of Conde Nast, for $6,500,000. The consideration will be paid in cash from existing cash balances in three equal annual installments, commencing at completion.

For the year-ended 31 December 2011, Fairchild Books generated net profit before tax of $706,000 and as at 31 December 2011 had gross assets of $7,567,000.

Fairchild Books, based in New York, is a market-leading publisher of textbooks and educational resources for students of fashion, merchandising, retailing and interior design. It has a strong history dating back to the nineteenth century and a world-class reputation for producing student materials for the fashion and design industries.

The Fairchild Books list is highly complementary to Bloomsbury’s existing academic list in the Visual Arts, which was bolstered by the acquisition of Berg Publishers in 2008, the launch of the award-winning Berg Fashion Library www.bergfashionlibrary.com in 2010 and the acquisition of a fashion photography archive in 2011.

Following the acquisition, the business will be managed by Kathryn Earle, Bloomsbury’s Head of Visual Arts, and will report in to Bloomsbury’s Academic & Professional division.

Bloomsbury’s successful integration of the Continuum business, purchased in July 2011, was the cornerstone acquisition of the Academic & Professional division, providing it with critical mass and excellent opportunities for organic growth and digital exploitation.

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury commented, ”The acquisition of Fairchild Books is part of Bloomsbury’s long term strategy to increase its Academic Publishing turnover in the USA, the largest market for English language textbooks.  There is an excellent fit between Fairchild Book’s list and Bloomsbury’s visual arts lists.

UK, London & USA, New York, NY

 

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WPP acquires EffectiveUI

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP has acquired all the assets of EffectiveUI, Inc., a leading user experience agency that designs and develops custom web, mobile, desktop and touch-enabled applications.

Founded in 2005, EffectiveUI is based in Denver, Colorado with an additional office in Rochester, New York and employs 100 people. Specializing in customer insight and user-centered design and development, EffectiveUI has helped companies such as AAA, American Greetings, Boeing, National Geographic, Navy Federal Credit Union, CenturyLink and TIAA-CREF improve digital interactions with customers. Inc. magazine has named EffectiveUI to its annual list of America’s fastest growing private companies – the Inc. 500/5000 - for three consecutive years.

EffectiveUI’s unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were $20.8 million, with gross assets at the same date of $6 million.

USA, Denver, CO

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WPP acquires Crowdverb, an advocacy firm in the US

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP’s wholly owned subsidiary Burson-Marsteller has acquired the assets of Crowdverb. It will be aligned with Direct Impact, grassroots advocacy firm that is also part of Burson-Marsteller. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Crowdverb is a start-up company based in Seattle, Washington, with an office in Austin, Texas. Crowdverb specializes in using an intensely data-driven approach to provide cost-effective, highly scalable activist mobilization around issues and legislation, to manage brand reputations and promote products. Founding partners Cyrus Krohn, Todd Herman and Sally Poliak have all worked in the technology sector, bringing a range of experience from companies including Microsoft and Yahoo, and Krohn and Herman served successive terms leading digital strategy for the Republican National Committee. Poliak is a 2010 recipient of the Stevie Award for Women in Business.

Crowdverb will complement the fundamentals of traditional grassroots advocacy with technical counterparts. The new offerings will include proprietary technologies, data and tools with advanced micro-messaging tactics that target the beliefs and attitudes of voters, consumers and activists.

USA, Seattle, WA

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Facebook is acquiring Instagram for around $1 billion

April 9, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Facebook is acquiring Instagram, a fun, popular photo-sharing app for mobile devices.

The total consideration for San Francisco-based Instagram is approximately $1 billion in a combination of cash and shares of Facebook. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close later this quarter.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, posted about the transaction on his Timeline:

I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.

For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.

We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.

That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience. We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.

These and many other features are important parts of the Instagram experience and we understand that. We will try to learn from Instagram’s experience to build similar features into our other products. At the same time, we will try to help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure.

This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.

We’re looking forward to working with the Instagram team and to all of the great new experiences we’re going to be able to build together.

USA, Menlo Park, CA

 

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Comverge to be acquired by Peak Merger for around $49M

March 29, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Energy management/demand response business Comverge is to be acquired by Peak Merger Corp., an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, LLC, a global private investment firm, for $1.75 per share in cash, or around $49 million in equity value.

The offer price represents a premium of approximately 18 percent over Comverge’s average closing price of $1.48 over the last 30 days. Affiliates of H.I.G. Capital will provide debt financing to Comverge in the amount of $12.0 million, which is not contingent on the closing of the acquisition by H.I.G. Capital.

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of an extensive review of financing and strategic alternatives available to Comverge,” said Alec Dreyer, Comverge’s Chairman of the Board of Directors.

“We are pleased to have found a solution to the Company’s immediate need for capital to fund ongoing operations that not only preserves value for stockholders but also provides immediate cash value to stockholders. The transaction addresses the risks associated with the Company’s liquidity position, provides for our financial viability going forward and allows Comverge to continue to execute on its business plan with the financial backing of H.I.G. Capital.”

Further, pursuant to the definitive agreement, Comverge is permitted to solicit alternative proposals from third parties during a go-shop period of 30 days following the date of the definitive agreement, with the potential for a 10 day extension.

UPDATE: At least two legal firms have announced that they have commenced investigations into possible breaches of fiduciary duty to current shareholders of Comverge and other violations of state law by the board of directors of Comverge relating to the proposed buyout of the company by Peak Merger. 

USA, Norcross, GA

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Hearst Corporation acquires 20% stake in Stylus Media Group

March 28, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Hearst Corporation has acquired a 20 percent stake in Stylus Media Group, which provides business intelligence to consumer companies. The announcement was made jointly by Frank A. Bennack, Jr., CEO of Hearst Corporation, and Marc Worth, CEO and founder of Stylus. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Stylus tracks consumer behavior and cultural shifts across consumer industries, including automotive, technology, media, retail, fashion and hospitality. Stylus is used by design, marketing, branding and business development departments inside companies to stimulate new ideas about consumer products and services.

As part of the agreement, Kenneth A. Bronfin, president of Hearst Interactive Media, will join the Board of Directors of Stylus. The Interactive Media group will manage Hearst’s stake in Stylus as it does with its numerous portfolio businesses.

Since its launch in September 2010, Stylus has grown to cover 20 sectors across 50 countries with a worldwide staff of 100. More than 200 major corporations have subscribed to Stylus data, including Saatchi & Saatchi, Starwood Hotels, Mulberry, Sony, Ford, Colombia Sportswear, The Container Store, Marks & Spencer and Interbrand. Its mission is to become a global leader in primary research, tapping into opportunities in emerging markets and meeting demand from business and design professionals for research and information.

Commenting on the acquisition, Bennack said, “For all businesses to be competitive, spotting the next trend can mean success or failure. We believe that Stylus offers information that no company should be without. The growth potential is very promising, as is the benefit to our own brands and businesses.”

“This strategic partnership signals a wealth of new opportunities for Stylus,” Worth said. “Hearst’s global presence will help drive Stylus’ business forward in Asia and Latin America as well as its core markets of U.S. and Europe. Hearst’s investment in both technology and new media businesses makes it an ideal partner and will allow us to meet demand for cross-sector, cross-country design intelligence.”

“We have been quite impressed with the tremendous amount of progress that Stylus has made since its launch in terms of content development and brand-name client acquisition,” Bronfin said. “We look forward to working with Stylus as it expands its reputation as an authoritative business intelligence resource for design and creative professionals.”

USA, New York, NY & UK, London

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Access Intelligence acquires LeadsCon trade show along with Daily Deal Summit

March 28, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Access Intelligence, a B2B media and information company and a portfolio company of Veronis Suhler Stevenson, has acquired LeadsCon. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

LeadsCon is an educational and networking conference dedicated to increasing the effectiveness of those operating in the online lead generation industry. LeadsCon is held twice a year. It has just completed its February event in Las Vegas, and will hold its East coast event in New York this July. Other products in the LeadsCon portfolio include the membership-based LeadsCouncil, the Daily Deal Summit conference series taking place this April 17-18 in New York, an e-newsletter, and other soon-to-be announced marketing conferences and product offerings.

Jay Weintraub, president and founder of New York-based LeadsCon, will continue in his role as President of LeadsCon, Daily Deal and the other products serving the customer-acquisition sector. Michelle Troop, LeadsCon co-founder and executive vice president of operations, and Weintraub will be part of the newly created Access Intelligence Customer Acquisition Board which will also include Don Pazour, AI’s President & CEO; Diane Schwartz, senior vice president of the Media/Communications Group; and Jenn Heinold, vice president of healthcare and aerospace events.

“I am particularly pleased to be working with a visionary like Jay Weintraub, who will lead our efforts in serving the customer acquisition professional community,” said Don Pazour, president and CEO of Access Intelligence. “The ability to round out our position in the marketing and technology sectors with highly engaged brands like LeadsCon and Daily Deal Summit is an exciting prospect for Access Intelligence, our employees and customers.”

In 2011, Access Intelligence completed acquisitions in the media/marketing and healthcare sectors, including that of Red7 Media (which includes Event Marketer and Folio); OR Manager, which presents one of the largest trade shows serving operating room executives; and Cynopsis Media, with advertising-driven e-letters serving the TV and digital communities.

USA, Rockville, MD

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Zynga acquires social game developer OMGPOP

March 22, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Zynga has acquired New York-based social game developer OMGPOP, makers of the popular cultural hit mobile game, Draw Something, and over 35 additional social games. As a part of the Zynga group, OMGPOP will focus on building new mobile IP and strengthening its existing portfolio of fun and creative social games. It is being reported that Zynga paid $200 million plus for OMGPOP.

“The OMGPOP team has created a game that’s fun, expressive and engenders real social interaction,” said Mark Pincus, founder and CEO of Zynga. “Draw Something has captured the imagination of millions of people around the world. We love the way they’ve worked playful and relevant culture into their games from Devo to Daft Punk, from Lin to Beckham. We’re honored to have the opportunity to partner with and support such an innovative team of creative inventors.”

“At Zynga we’re committed to building brands that we’re proud of and that our players absolutely love,” said David Ko, Chief Mobile Officer of Zynga. “We want people to play our games and feel a fun and valuable social connection to their friends and family. We think Draw Something is one of the most social, most expressive mobile games ever built with its unique social competition and unmatched player generated content. We’re excited about the brands OMGPOP has developed to date and we look forward to supporting the team’s creativity and helping scale their incredible games to an even bigger global audience.”

OMGPOP began as iminlikewithyou, a social network for people to meet and play games. The company soon after launched its social gaming website, OMGPOP.com in 2009. OMGPOP is best known for Draw Something, one of the fastest growing word games of all time.

OMGPOP will remain headquartered in New York and report to David Ko, Chief Mobile Officer of Zynga.

USA, San Francisco, CA & New York, NY

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