WPP Digital invests in mySupermarket

April 19, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP Digital has made an investment of $7 million for a minority stake in Dolphin Software Ltd., doing business as mySupermarket, a company which operates a shopping site that allows consumers to compare prices of entire shopping baskets and buy from the major UK online grocery and health & beauty retailers. It has over 2 million monthly unique users in the UK and is growing approximately 100% year on year.

Founded in 2006 and with principal operations in the US, the company employs 70 people and has offices in London, New York, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

UK, London

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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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DMGT – trading update for the six-month period to the end of March 2012

April 17, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

DMGT has issued an update on the Group’s progress in the current year. It covers the six-month period to the end of March 2012.

Summary

–       Solid Group revenue performance, up 2% underlying

–       Good underlying growth from B2B operations

–       Resilient revenue performance at Associated; circulation and digital revenue growth largely offsetting print advertising weakness

–       Active portfolio management; targeted acquisitions and disposal of non-core assets

–       Outlook for the year remains unchanged.

 

Acquisition activity

Active portfolio management has seen further bolt-on acquisitions, including:

–       Intelliworks – a top provider of relationship management solutions for higher education (dmgi – Hobsons)

–       PrepMe – a leader in adaptive learning technologies and test preparation programs (dmgi – Hobsons)

–       SpringRock – a cutting-edge provider of dynamic production forecasts for the oil & gas industry (dmgi – Genscape)

–       Global Grain Geneva and Global Grain Asia – international grain trading conferences (Euromoney) (A Fusion deal – click here for details)

–       Jobrapido – one of the world’s largest job search engines (Associated -Evenbase)

This continuing portfolio management activity has also seen A&N Media selling its interests in Top Consultant, motors.co.uk and Teletext.

Yesterday, the Office of Fair Trading gave clearance for the proposed merger between the Digital Property Group and Zoopla to go ahead.

Read the full announcement here

UK, London

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Games company Zattikka lists on AIM and makes three acquisitions

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Zattikka plc, a social and casual internet games development and publishing business, has listed in AIM. The Company has completed a placing with institutional and other investors, raising approximately £12.6 million, with proceeds to be used to fund the acquisition of three online games companies and ongoing working capital.

Zattikka is a newly-incorporated company, focused on developing and publishing interactive games entertainment products across internet connected platforms, through various media channels. These channels include PC web browsers, social networks, mobile devices (including smartphones and tablets), connected consoles, and other emerging platforms including IP TVs and set top boxes.

Contemporaneous with admission, Zattikka will complete the acquisitions of three online games companies:

  • Hattrick Holdings
  • Sneaky Games, Inc.
  • Concept Art House, Inc.

The acquisitions will provide Zattikka with products that can then be sold to end-customers in key European, US and Chinese markets, either directly through its own websites, or through third-party digital distribution channels or other new digital platforms.

The vision for the Company is to become a large scale, diverse games publisher with products operating across growth digital platforms, and with a targeted geographic emphasis in Europe, the US and China. The Company proposes to achieve this by developing Zattikka through strategic acquisitions and accelerating on-going organic growth.

Mark Opzoomer, Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are delighted to list on AIM to provide the capital base and incentivise the entrepreneurs joining our group. We begin with a strong group of companies with operations in key gaming centres in the USA, China and Europe, a mix of revenues across subscriptions, virtual goods and work for hire with an exceptional team of talent. We have a great opportunity before us to accelerate the growth of this initial group across multi-platforms to create a world class games entertainment group.”

UK, London

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OFT clears the merger between the Digital Property Group and Zoopla

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has today given clearance for the proposed merger between the Digital Property Group and Zoopla to go ahead. Digital Property Group is part of A&N Media, the consumer media division of DMGT. The merger will bring together Findaproperty.com, Zoopla.co.uk and Primelocation.com. The transaction is now expected to complete within the next few weeks.

Evidence received by the OFT during its investigation found that the merger would not result in reduced competition and consequently did not warrant reference to the Competition Commission for further investigation.

Mark Milner, CEO of the Digital Property Group said, “This is an important day for the industry, given the long-awaited balance in the market that this deal will deliver. It has been a long time coming and the enhanced value that the combined business will provide will make this deal a clear win for UK estate agents, letting agents and housebuilders.”

Martin Morgan, Chief Executive of DMGT said: “We are delighted that the merger has been approved. We now have the opportunity to challenge the market leader in the online property sector, to the benefit of both consumers and clients”.

See also – FindaProperty, Primelocation and Zoopla to merge to take on Rightmove posted on November 7, 2011.

UK, London

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DMGTacquires Jobrapido

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

A&N Media, the consumer media business of DMGT, has acquired Jobrapido, one of the world’s largest job search engines. Jobrapido will be combined with A&N Media’s existing digital recruitment group, which is now renamed as Evenbase in order to reflect the wider scope and international reach of the enlarged group.

This acquisition gives Evenbase – which includes Jobsite, OilCareers and Broadbean – access to one of the world’s largest databases of job seekers and a global footprint with strong positions in a number of key international markets.

The completion consideration is €30 million.  The Jobrapido management team is incentivised to enhance this valuation over the next few years through an earn-out arrangement based on achieving agreed financial and business performance objectives.  Jobrapido achieved revenues of c. €24 million and profits of c. €6 million during calendar year 2011.

Jobrapido was established in Italy in 2006 by its Chief Executive, Vito Lomele. It is the second largest international job search engine in the world, delivering last year 660 million visits from job seekers (most recently 32 million unique visitors in March 2012) in more than 50 countries.

Keith Potts, Evenbase Chief Executive, said: “I’m absolutely delighted to secure such a valuable asset for the group. Candidates are, and will always be, the raw material for recruitment. Jobrapido gives us access to job seeking candidates on a global scale and supercharges the transformation of our business model.”

Martin Morgan, CEO of DMGT said: “Bringing the Jobrapido team into the DMGT group is a great example of DMGT’s core strategy in action.  We seek out and acquire market leading businesses with strong positions in rapidly growing international markets. We have a strong culture of entrepreneurial management and like to retain and empower the people who built those businesses.”

UK, London & Italy, Milan

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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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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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