CBS acquires 50% of TV Guide

March 26, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

CBS Corp. is acquiring 50% of of TV Guide, the company that encompasses TVGN (formerly TV Guide Network) and TVGuide.com.

CBS is taking over the TV Guide stake held by One Equity Partners, the private-equity arm of J.P. Morgan Chase, which owned 49% of the company, with an option to buy another 1%. CBS is said to be paying about $100 million, less than the $122 million OEP spent in June 2009. CBS joins TVGN co-owner Lionsgate Entertainment.

“This is a strategic way for CBS to use its content brands and gain access to a highly distributed basic cable network that has a lot of upside,” said Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Corporation. “Lionsgate, led by my friend Jon Feltheimer, is a forward-thinking content company and a great partner for us here. We’re excited to bring CBS’s programming and production assets to the venture, and work with Lionsgate to rebrand and grow a channel that will be increasingly valuable to our carriage partners.”

USA, Los Angeles, CA

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CareerBuilder acquires VON (KiemViec.com & HR Vietnam) in Vietnam

March 26, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

careerbuilderCareerBuilder has acquired VON (KiemViec.com & HR Vietnam) in Vietnam.

KiemViec.com is Vietnam’s second largest career site by revenue, and first by number of registered users. HR Vietnam specialises in recruitment services and human resource solutions for employers.

“The acquisition of VON, provides CareerBuilder an accelerated entry into the Vietnam market – an important step in our Asian expansion,” said Hunter Arnold , President of CareerBuilder Asia Pacific. “The growth potential is high as we combine VON’s expertise with Vietnamese employers and CareerBuilder’s global reach and advance technology and services.”

USA, Chicago, IL & Vietnam

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Yahoo acquires Summly for $30 million

March 25, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

YahooYahoo Inc has acquired mobile news aggregator Summly. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. AllThingsD reported that Yahoo paid roughly $30 million. Three Summly employees will join Yahoo as part of the deal.

Summly was founded two years ago by young entrepreneur Nick D’Aloisio, a then 15 year-old working from his home in London. Summly delivers snapshots of news stories to smart phones in a simple and elegant way. Summply was backed by Li Ka-Shing and Horizons Ventures. Plus other angel investors including actor Ashton Kutcher and artist Yoko Ono,

Yahoo said it will shut down the Summly app but will integrate the company’s natural language processing and machine-learning technology across Yahoo’s various online services, particularly Yahoo’s line-up of mobile services.

Here is how how Nick D’Aloisio announced the deal.

In true Summly fashion, I will keep this short and sweet.

I am delighted to announce Summly has signed an agreement to be acquired by Yahoo!. Our vision is to simplify how we get information and we are thrilled to continue this mission with Yahoo!’s global scale and expertise. After spending some time on campus, I discovered that Yahoo! has an inspirational goal to make people’s daily routines entertaining and meaningful, and mobile will be a central part of that vision. For us, it’s the perfect fit.

When I founded Summly at 15, I would have never imagined being in this position so suddenly. I’d personally like to thank Li Ka-Shing and Horizons Ventures for having the foresight to back a teenager pursuing his dream. Also to our investors, advisors and of course the fantastic team for believing in the potential of Summly. Without you all, this never would have been possible. I’d also like to thank my family, friends and school for supporting me.

Most importantly, thank you to our wonderful users who have helped contribute to us receiving Apple’s Best Apps of 2012 award for Intuitive Touch! We will be removing Summly from the App Store today but expect our summarization technology will soon return to multiple Yahoo! products – see this as a ‘power nap’ so to speak.With over 90 million summaries read in just a few short months, this is just the beginning for our technology. As we move towards a more refined, liberated and intelligent mobile web, summaries will continue to help navigate through our ever expanding information universe.

Sincerely, Nick, Founder

USA, Sunnydale, CA & UK, London

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LifeApps acquires Today’s New Deal

March 23, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

LifeApps-Icon-2012-85pxLifeApps Digital Media has acquired the assets of Today’s New Deal, including todaysnewdeal.com. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

LifeApps Digital Media a designer of apps for sports, health, fitness and entertainment enthusiasts, has acquired Today’s New Deal, a Southern California based daily deal website and email marketing newsletter service. LifeApps has acquired all assets of the Today’s New Deal website, newsletter system and Today’s New Deal’s approximately 40,000 registered users.

“We are looking forward to branding Today’s New Deal as a sports, health and fitness specific daily deals site combined with an m-Commerce mobile app companion,” said LifeApps CEO, Robert Gayman. “The Southern California region, from Ventura County through Los Angeles and San Diego, is a very health conscious, e-commerce and mobile health friendly area. We know that the sports, health and fitness targeted daily deals that Today’s New Deal will be delivering are going to be of great interest to the approximately 40,000 existing subscribers of Today’s New Deal. We also believe narrowing the focus of the deals to our specific sports, health and fitness market will help us improve the deals that are offered through Today’s New Deal and grow its subscriber base.”

LifeApps will brand the Today’s New Deal service with a new look, new logo and a companion m-Commerce mobile app and will launch the new service this summer.

USA, San Diego, CA

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McGraw-Hill completes the sale of McGraw-Hill Education to Apollo

March 22, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

McgrawhilleducationThe McGraw-Hill Companies has completed the sale of its McGraw-Hill Education business to investment funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC. The purchase price was $2.4 billion in cash.

Previous reporting.

The McGraw-Hill Companies will be renamed McGraw Hill Financial in the second quarter of this year and will focus on serving the global capital and commodity markets

The Company is using a portion of the approximately $1.9 billion in after tax proceeds from the sale to pay down short-term debt, in part driven by the special dividend paid in 2012, to resume share repurchases and to make selective tuck-in acquisitions.

“Consistent with our commitment to maximizing shareholder value, McGraw Hill Financial expects to continue to return cash to shareholders and to invest for growth,” said Harold McGraw III , Chairman, President and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies. “We have successfully completed our Growth and Value Plan, which had as its cornerstone the separation of our financial information and education businesses. The steps we have taken have unlocked value for shareholders, positioned the assets of McGraw-Hill Education for long-term success and accelerated the growth potential of the new McGraw Hill Financial.”

USA, New York, NY

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TripAdvisor acquires Tiny Post

March 22, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

tripadvisorTripAdvisor has acquired Tiny Post, an app that lets you write over photos and turn them into stories. The Tiny Post team will be based in TripAdvisor’s Palo Alto office. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The Tiny Post team have created a wonderful app that shows the possibilities of combining travel photos with social and mobile,” said Steve Kaufer , co-founder and CEO TripAdvisor, Inc. “We think Tiny Post is a great fit with our continued drive to provide engaging and sharable content and I am happy to welcome this strong team to TripAdvisor.”tiny-post-logo

USA, Newton, MA & Palo Alto, CA

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SFX to acquire dance music events producer ID&T

March 21, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

SFX Entertainment is to acquire ID&T, the producer of dance music festivals and events worldwide. The deal follows a previously announced joint venture between SFX and ID&T, which will bring ID&T events to North America. SFX is to acquire 75 percent of the company, which is valued at approximately $130 million.

Based in Amsterdam, ID&T is a privately held company that has produced events in Europe and around the world for more than 20 years, welcoming every type of dance music fan to indoor and outdoor events. Among the brands in the ID&T family are Sensation and Mysteryland. Sensation is an indoor house music brand, with events in 20 countries around the world. Mysteryland hosts 60,000 visitors in the Netherlands, 25,000 visitors in Santiago de Chile and will further expand worldwide the next few years.

“This is a hugely significant and strategically important acquisition for SFX,” said Robert F.X. Sillerman, Chairman and CEO of SFX Entertainment. “With ID&T, SFX has an immediate global footprint in more than 20 markets worldwide. ID&T productions are known for being of the highest quality and for producing maximum entertainment for their fans. Their exceptional team has developed amazing dance music brands with tremendous global reach.”

The acquisition of ID&T follows recent acquisitions by SFX of dance music brands Life In Color, Disco Donnie, Miami Marketing Group and Beatport.

USA, New York, NY & The Netherlands, Amsterdam

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Mecom Group plc – results for year ended 31st December 2012

March 21, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

mecomMecom Group plc has announced its results for the year ended 31st December 2012.
HIGHLIGHTS

  • Adjusted EBITDA of €87.5 million (2011: €111.1 million)
  • Total revenue down 9 per cent to €910.5 million
  • Non-advertising revenues down 3 per cent to €546.1 million
  • Advertising revenues down 17 per cent to €364.4 million
  • Costs lower by 7 per cent, or €63.4 million, versus target of €40 million
  • Total adjusted Group earnings per share of 34.6 euro cents (2011: 46.1 euro cents)
  • Final dividend of 5.5 euro cents per share; full year dividend of 11.5 euro cents (including 3.5 cents relating to earnings from discontinued operations)
  • Net debt halved during the year to €129.5 million, with closing leverage of 1.4 times
  • Strategic Review progressing:
    • agreement signed for the disposal of Poland division
    • agreement signed for the disposal of Autotrack online classifieds business
    • processes continue in Denmark and the Netherlands

Full details here.

 

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Demand Media acquires Creativebug

March 19, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Demand MediaDemand Media has acquired Creativebug. Creativebug is a video art and craft instruction website. The acquisition will accelerate Demand Media’s expansion into e-Learning.

“We’re seeing a ‘disruption and reinvention’ in the way that people are learning new skills. They are increasingly going online to learn both practical and creative skills, and we believe this convergence has huge potential,” said Joanne Bradford, Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer, Demand Media. “Instead of browsing at a bookstore or attending a class at the local community college, people are going online to learn from a world-renowned expert at a time that fits their schedule, accessing online videos from their smartphone, tablet or desktop.”

“Creativebug masterfully leveraged the e-learning and craft trend in the emerging ‘Create it Yourself’ movement to become a leader in this market,” added Dan Brian, Executive Vice President of Media. “We’ve seen interest in craft-related content on eHow grow more than 20% on average every year over the last three years. We’re sprinting to keep up with demand, adding 29% more video content over the same period. Millions of people who visit eHow every month will be able to access Creativebug’s video workshops led by the top artists and designers in the world. We’re thrilled to add the passionate Creativebug team to the Demand Media family.”

USA, Santa Monica, CA

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Euromoney Institutional Investor acquires Insider Publishing

March 19, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney logoEuromoney Institutional Investor PLC is expanding its insurance and reinsurance business with the acquisition of Insider Publishing Limited.

Euromoney has paid an initial £16.8 million for Insider Publishing, funded from its existing committed borrowing facility.  It expects to make an additional deferred consideration payment in 2015 based on the growth in profits of Insurance Insider from 2012 to the average of the 2013 and 2014 calendar years.  Insider Publishing recorded an unaudited pre-tax profit of £2.1 million on revenues of £4.7 million for the year to December 2012.

Insider Publishing, set up by former Lloyd’s insurance underwriter Peter Hastie in 2000, is a leading information source for the Insurance insiderinternational insurance and reinsurance markets.  Its business model is centred on trusted, premium subscription content served through The Insurance Insider, the non-life insurance and reinsurance online news service, and a number of other specialist titles, all providing senior industry professionals and advisers with insight and intelligence on the London and international insurance and reinsurance markets.  Insider Publishing also runs a series of events including The Insurance Insider Honours awards dinner and the London One Hundredforum for senior executives of the London insurance market.

“We are delighted to acquire Insider Publishing,” said Richard Ensor, chairman of Euromoney. “Euromoney expects the international non-life insurance and reinsurance markets to remain major consumers of business information.  The acquisition gives Euromoney the opportunity to build critical mass in these markets and it will continue to run the two complementary brands, Reactions and The Insurance Insider, side by side.”

UK, London

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