United Online acquires schoolFeed

June 11, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

United Online, owner of Memory Lane Inc, has acquired schoolFeed, a online high school network, to help develop its Classmates business in the USA and its StayFriends brand internationally. schoolFeed has over 19 million members and has been growing by approximately 100,000 new registrations per day on average over the past three months. schoolFeed’s CEO and co-founder Lance Tokuda and team members joined Memory Lane upon the closing.

schoolFeed is a free app that enables users to find and connect with their high school friends and acquaintances, and offers an online yearbook and class directory with news feed, interest groups, online games and virtual currency. Currently, users join schoolFeed through its Facebook app which can then populate their schoolFeed profile using information and images from the new member’s Facebook profile. schoolFeed was launched in 2011 by Tokuda who co-founded RockYou, one of the earliest successful Facebook app developers. RockYou’s portfolio of popular apps includes Superwall, Birthday Cards, Slideshows and Zoo World.

“We expect the acquisition of schoolFeed by Memory Lane to solidify our Classmates service as the premier high school social media platform in the U.S.,” said Mark R. Goldston, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of United Online. “We anticipate that the addition of schoolFeed’s installed base of 19 million registered members, together with its daily registrations, will create an opportunity for Classmates to have a leading position on Facebook. It should also provide an opportunity for both schoolFeed members and Classmates.com members to reconnect and interact with an even larger number of people from their high schools. In addition, we add the proven talent of Lance Tokuda and his team to enhance the Classmates.com user experience.”

Classmates has over 55 million registered consumer accounts and class directories covering over 25,000 high schools.

USA, Woodlands, CA

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Google is acquiring messaging and advertising service Meebo for its Google+ team

June 4, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

In a post on its blog, messaging service Meebo has announced that it is being acquired by Google. Meebo is a social platform connecting users with other users through the internet. Their flagship product is the MeeboBar.

Signed by the Meebo team, the blog post say, “For more than seven years we’ve been helping publishers find deeper relationships with their users and to make their sites more social and engaging. Together with Google, we’re super jazzed to roll up our sleeves and get cracking on even bigger and better ways to help users and website owners alike. We’ve had a blast building Meebo so far and we’re really excited to start the next leg of our journey.

The terms and structure of the deal are not yet known. Last month All Things D gave Meebo a price tag of around $100M.

USA, Mountain View, CA

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Mood Media Corporation acquires BIS for €22.5M

June 1, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Mood Media Corporation has acquired BIS Group, a provider of commercial audio-visual installation in the Benelux region, for a consideration of €22.5 million in cash. Mood Media is an in-store media specialist that helps its clients communicate with consumers with a view to driving incremental sales at the point-of-purchase.

In the year ended December 31, 2011, BIS recorded revenue of €46.1 M and Profit Before Tax of €2.6 M.

Lorne Abony, CEO & Chairman of Mood Media Corporation, commented, “We are excited about the BIS acquisition for a number of reasons.  Firstly, the acquisition’s merits on a stand-alone basis are compelling; Mood is acquiring a well-established business with a strong market position at an attractive value. Most critically, however, we believe that BIS’s sophisticated and comprehensive installation capabilities will enable Mood to better capitalize on its tremendous visual market opportunity and grow its visual recurring revenue base more efficiently.

The acquisition is in step with Mood’s growth strategy of driving organic sales growth by enabling the enlarged group to offer an expanded range of products and services.  The integration of BIS with Mood also offers further opportunities to centralise and realise scale economies from the combined organisation.

Canada, Toronto & The Netherlands, Ridderkerk

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MoneySupermarket.com acquires MoneySavingExpert for £87m

June 1, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

MoneySupermarket.com has conditionally agreed to acquire MoneySavingExpert as a going concern from founder Martin Lewis, for consideration of up to £87m.

MoneySavingExpert operates one of the UK’s leading personal finance and personal finance journalism websites which was established in 2003 by personal finance journalist Martin Lewis.

According to Google Analytics, the MoneySavingExpert website attracted approximately 39 million unique visitors and approximately 277 million page impressions in the year ended 31 October 2011.

In the year ended 31 October 2011, MoneySavingExpert reported revenues of £15.773 million (2010: £11.361 million) and EBITDA of £12.642 million (2010: £8.379 million).

UK, Ewloe, Wales
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BUZZMEDIA acquires Electronic Music Authority XLR8R

May 31, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet
Digital media company BUZZMEDIA has acquired XLR8R,  a online magazine that focuses on emerging trends in music, style, and technology

“We are dedicated to creating unparalleled media experiences around the culture that our digital audience lives,” said Tyler Goldman, CEO of BUZZMEDIA. “Electronic music and its associated lifestyle have grown massively, and XLR8R has established itself as the go-to place for the ever-growing number of passionate fans of the scene, providing in-depth and highly social coverage. Plus, I can dance like nobody’s business.”

XLR8R has seen a readership increase of 60 percent year-over-year for the past two years. BUZZMEDIA is intent on accelerating that growth, as well as increasing its North American presence to complement the base XLR8R holds internationally, particularly in the U.K. music community.

USA, Los Angeles, CA

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Groupon acquires Breadcrumb

May 30, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

According to the Groupon Blog, Groupon has acquired Breadcrumb, an iPad based hospitality point of sale system for restaurants. terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founder Seth Harris and his team are joining Groupon.

USA, Mountain View, CA

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Lockerz Acquires Fashion Sharing Site Chick Approved

May 30, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Social commerce business Lockerz has acquired Chick Approved, an online fashion community enabling users to share and receive instant feedback on personal style. The acquisition includes a partnership with YouTube star Megan Parken (MeganHeartsMakeup). Ms. Parken will join the recently-launched Lockerz Style Council, as well as its new “Tastemakers” community, in which Lockerz members engage with image collections from their favorite actors, musicians and stylists.

“Acquiring Chick Approved and working with one of YouTube’s biggest stars is a great way for Lockerz to continue to build its fashion experience for members,” said Kathy Savitt, founder and CEO of Lockerz. “Coming on the heels of our new Lockerz Tastemakers program, we’re giving members even more ways to get rewarded for doing what they love online.”

Launched just over a year ago, Chick Approved was founded by entrepreneurs Jeff Turnbull, Brett Miller and David Dripps. Together with Megan Parken, they grew their influence rapidly in content, fashion and beauty through Parken’s millions of YouTube fans.

The Lockerz Style Council provides insight on trends and merchandise assortments, as well as provides their own picks to Lockerz members through boutiques in the Lockerz store. In addition to Ms. Parken, Council members include Lockerz chief fashion editor Stacy Igel and various other fashion bloggers and stylists.

USA, Seattle, WA

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Pearson acquires GlobalEnglish for $90M

May 25, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Pearson has acquired GlobalEnglish for $90 million in cash.

Founded in 1997 in California, GlobalEnglish is a leading provider of cloud-based, on-demand Business English learning, assessment and performance support software. It serves more than 450 corporate customers, including 20 per cent of the Forbes Global 2000 companies, including General Electric, HSBC, Tata Consultancy Services and Unilever. Its product suite is uniquely suited to serve the needs of global professionals with a comprehensive offering – formal Business English learning coursework, informal and social learning capabilities, performance support tools, an enterprise collaboration platform, a mobile app, assessments and a premium one-on-one coaching service. GlobalEnglish’s Business English content is also entirely focused on the application of Business English to real life business situations such as composing emails and participating in conference calls, and its efficacy is highly rated by global companies and their employees. Approximately 75 per cent of GlobalEnglish’s more than 200,000 active subscribers are in fast growing economies in Latin America and Asia.

GlobalEnglish complements Pearson’s adult English language training business, Wall Street English, by enabling Pearson to expand more rapidly into the corporate market with cost-effective and scalable cloud-based Business English software solutions and to offer the world’s pre-eminent companies a full suite of relevant products and services.

In 2011 GlobalEnglish generated revenues of approximately $42m with high renewal rates. The company has more than 200 employees across more than 20 countries and has product development offices in Silicon Valley (USA), India and Korea. Pearson will be expensing integration costs relating to GlobalEnglish in 2012 and expects the acquisition to enhance adjusted earnings per share and to generate a return on invested capital above Pearson’s weighted average cost of capital from 2013, its first full year.

John Fallon, Chief Executive of Pearson’s International education business, said, “The rise of English as a global language of business continues. This acquisition enables Pearson to play a much more systematic role in meeting the need of major companies around the world for quality, effective, scalable and relevant English language learning. We can combine services, technology, brands and content from across the Pearson family with the GlobalEnglish product portfolio to enrich the learning experience and enhance further the effectiveness of the teaching.”

UK, London &  USA, Silicon Valley, CA

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UBM Aviation Routes Limited acquires Airlineroute.net

May 20, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

UBM Aviation Routes Limited has acquired Airlineroute.net, an online blogging website for route development scheduled changes. Airlineroute.net is the airline network planning community’s top blogging site and it is used by thousands of airline network planners and airport aviation professionals each day.

The blog will be integrated into the news section of Routesonline, the online route development forum and official website of Routes, which has, since its re-launch in May 2008, been a central source of route development information to airports and airlines.

Routesonline also allows airports to promote their market opportunities and airlines to access one resource for all their market data and route development information, as well as being a key source of route development news and analysis through their HUB newsletter.

David McMullen, Business Development Director of Routesonline stated “Airlineroute.net is the most highly regarded source of airline route development news and is currently used by over 800 companies, the synergies between this site and the Routes brand are clear and we are delighted to offer our clients this tool to track changes in airline schedules.”

Routesonline has developed year on year since its inception in 2008, it now offers its 18,000 registered users not only industry and event news but also the unique Route Exchange facility which is where airports and airlines create profiles.  Airlines post available aircraft capacity and airports can send proposals direct to the airlines  Airline users also have direct access to Route Exchange airport profiles, which have full airport intelligence and allow contacts to be made before or after Routes events. The Route Exchange also facilitates an online Request for Proposals (RFP) process where airlines use the Route Exchange to request for proposals from airports to assist them in their network developments plans. This facility was only introduced last year and has already had Air Asia X, Scoot and Indigo airlines participate with further RFPs planned for later in the year.

UK, London & Estonia, Tallinn

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Chime Communications PLC acquires controlling interest in Harvey Walsh Limited

May 17, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Chime Communications PLC has acquired 51% of the share capital of Harvey Walsh Limited, a company providing market access and data services to the pharmaceutical industry and the NHS, for an initial consideration of £2.19 million.

The initial consideration comprises £2.1 million in cash and a further £90,000 in cash representing 51% of working capital of HWL at acquisition which is surplus to requirements after HWL joins the Group. A further tranche of the initial consideration of up to £1.9 million may be payable depending upon the trading performance of HWL in 2012 and 2013.

HWL reported turnover of £1.6 million for the 14 months ended 31 December 2011 and operating profit of £517,000. The gross assets of HWL were £660,000 as at 31 December 2011.

Chime is acquiring the interest in the business from HWL’s two owner directors; Sue Beecroft and Julia Wilkins. Following completion, Sue and Julia will continue to develop HWL as part of Chime’s healthcare division, OPEN Health.  HWL’s clients include: Lilly, Napp and Sanofi.

UK, London

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