Enthusiast Gaming Media acquires The Escapist Magazine

July 26, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Enthusiast GamingEnthusiast Gaming Media Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Enthusiast Gaming Inc. has acquired The Escapist Magazine from Defy Media. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2005, Escapist is a leading online magazine focused on in-depth coverage of the video game industry in addition to movies, comics, TV, and more. Averaging over 6 million monthly visits since 2008, the acquisition significantly grows Enthusiast Gaming’s network and follows the successful acquisition of Destructoid.com in 2017, enhancing the company’s growth strategy as the fastest growing community of online gamers.

Former Editor-in-Chief of Escapist Russ Pitts will be returning to the position after leaving in 2011 to help Vox Media launch Polygon. Mr Pitts spent 5 years building and growing the online magazine and has an impressive track record with Escapist including: six Webby Awards, two Streamy nominations, a G.A.N.G. Award nomination, two dozen video series, over 1,000 written articles and a Time Magazine “50 Best Websites” mention.

Menashe Kestenbaum, Founder & CEO of Enthusiast Gaming, said, “The acquisition of Escapist is instrumental as we continue to grow our network of gamers. Escapist represents long form and intellectual content generation and will be another flagship platform in our network. Russ is a true visionary in online gaming journalism and we are thrilled to bring him back to lead Escapist.”

Canada, Toronto & USA, Durham, NC

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Kew Media completes acquisition of Essential Media Group

July 24, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Kew Media GroupProduction and distribution firm Kew Media Group has completed the previously reported acquisition of the Essential Media Group.

The Essential Media Group is the newly formed international content company from the merger of two leading independent production companies and joint venture partners – Essential Media and Entertainment and Quail Entertainment. Headed by CEO and Executive Producer Chris Hilton and CCO and Executive Producer Greg Quail, EMG combines strong credentials and track records in both scripted and unscripted content.

Steven Silver, Kew Founder and CEO, said, “The addition of Essential to the Kew platform is another step forward in our growth strategy. It expands Kew’s US offering and gives us a first presence in Australia. We anticipate strong revenue synergies coming from Essential’s inclusion for 2019.

Canada, Toronto & USA, Los Angeles, CA

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QD Events acquires Scottish Fitness and Nutrition Expo

July 24, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

QD EventsScottish event organiser QD Events has acquired the independently run Scottish Fitness and Nutrition Expo, which has experienced significant growth since it was founded by friends Neil Maclean and Jamie Rose in 2014. QD Events, which acquired 25 per cent of SFN Expo in 2016, bid for the remaining 75 per cent after the show’s record attendance last year. Further details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The next edition of SFN Expo will run from 6th-7th October 2018 at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow and has already hit record stand and ticket sales. The show will see the return of the World’s Strongest Man, Eddie Hall, and huge industry brands such as Les Mills creating interactive fitness experiences for visitors. SFN 2018 will also host the finals of The Scottish Throwdown and Scotland’s Strongest Man.

The show adds to QD Events’ repertoire which already includes Scotland’s largest exhibition, The Scottish Caravan, Holiday Home and Motorhome Show, IRN-BRU Carnival, Scottish Wedding Show, Independent Living Scotland and Resonate Festival of Gaming.

Greg Cherry, managing director of QD Events, said: “We are delighted to add SFN Expo to the QD Events portfolio. We have worked closely with SFN’s organisers over the past few years to help it reach its true potential, scale and accessibility to the mainstream fitness market.”

UK, Glasgow

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Mercator Media acquires Coastlink Network

July 23, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Mercator Media LtdMercator Media, the parent company of Boating Business, has acquired Coastlink Network Ltd, a neutral pan-European network dedicated to the promotion of short sea and feeder container shipping and how it forms part of a competitive supply chain. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Coastlink was established in 2004 by shipping professionals David Cheslin and Gavin Roser. Since then, Coastlink has hosted a series of 18 conferences and meetings to maximise the utilisation and potential of shipping networks; achieve an environmentally friendly modal shift to shipping; encourage more services linking ports in European waters; and develop collaboration between shippers, ports, shipping lines and freight organisations. The next Coastlink conference will be co-located with Seawork, from 11-13 June 2019, in Southampton, UK.

Mr Roser, currently ‘Ambassador at Large’ of not-for-profit think tank, The European Freight and Logistics Leaders’ Forum, will continue as a consultant to Coastlink to ensure its continued relevance.

Andrew Webster, CEO of Mercator Media, commented: “Mercator is a great new home for the Coastlink Network events. It fits very well with what we do and complements our magazines that overlap this marketplace; Port Strategy, The MotorShip and Maritime Journal as well as our events, GreenPort Congress, Propulsion & Future Fuels and the well-known commercial marine exhibition, Seawork.”

UK, Fareham & London

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Keywords Studios acquires AI and machine learning firm Yokozuna Data

July 23, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

keywordsKeywords Studios is purchasing Yokozuna Data, a developer of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, from Silicon Studio Corporation for US$1.5mln in cash, which includes all associated technology rights and trademarks.

Yokozuna’s technologies, which include a range of self-learning, predictive analytic models drawing on AI and machine learning tech, are designed to predict the behaviour of individual video game players and adapt themselves to changes made in the game. The models are also used to determine the likelihood of players abandoning the game and their propensity to buy items in the game. The firm also offers a management framework which allows game companies to adjust key parameters, record and view results, and to monitor key performance metrics of their games in live operation.

As part of the agreement, Keywords will collaborate with Yokozuna’s previous owner Silicon to introduce the technologies developed by the company to Japanese game developers and publishers, while also retaining the non-exclusive right to resell Yokozuna’s solutions to non-game markets (such as healthcare) in exchange for a share of associated revenues.

Andrew Day, Keywords’ chief executive, said that the company had been looking to “establish a foothold in…video game analytics for a few years”, and that while Yokozuna was pre-revenue, it was a “rare asset” with clients expected to start implementing the software in 2018. He added that as video games continued to transition to a service model from a product model, “the use of sophisticated analytics engines like this to automatically understand player behaviour and trigger real time decisions in-game will become increasingly valuable”, and that the use of AI to adapt predictive models in games based on in-game changes was “critical to the future of the video games industry”.

Ireland, Dublin & Japan, Tokyo

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Keywords Studios acquires Snowed In Studios for $4M (CAD)

July 20, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

keywordsKeywords Studios, the international creative and technical services provider to the global video games industry, has acquired Snowed In Studios Inc. from its current owners, Jean-Sylvain Sormany, Tim Vito and Evan Hahn, for up to $4 million Canadian dollars.

Founded in 2010 and based in Ottawa, Canada, Snowed In offers engineering and co-development services to the video-games industry and has a strong global reputation and well-established relationships with clients such as Ubisoft, Nickelodeon and Bethesda. The company has 29 employees all working in-house in its office in Ottawa led by the current owners, who will remain with Snowed In to drive its growth as part of Keywords.

Andrew Day, CEO of Keywords Studios, said, “The addition of Snowed In to the Group will add strength and scale to our recently established engineering service line and enable Snowed In to take advantage of the group’s very strong presence in the region to support its growth. Having grown the engineering service line from nothing in May 2017, we now employ over 300 software engineers in multiple regions, and I’m delighted that Jean-Sylvain, Tim, Evan and their highly talented and creative team are joining the group as we continue to grow.”

Ireland, Dublin & Canada, Ottawa

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Future to acquire Purch’s consumer division for $132.5M

July 18, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Future plcGlobal specialist media platform Future plc is to acquire the consumer division of Purch, the next generation digital publishing and marketplace platform, operating in the consumer technology and science verticals. The deal will see Future acquire Purch’s publisher services division (ad sales) along with the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) group in a deal worth over $132 million.

The acquisition will give Future a leading position in consumer technology publishing in the U.S. Purch has successfully grown its digitally-led business and generates more than $1 billion annually in facilitated commerce through its tech, shopping, lifestyle and SMB brands, including Tom’s Guide, Tom’s Hardware, Top Ten Reviews, ShopSavvy and Business.com.

Future CEO Zillah Byng-Thorne said, “Future’s mission to be a technology-enabled global platform for specialist media takes another big step forward today with this announcement. I’ve been impressed by the strength of Purch’s technology platforms and the expertise of its people. Together we can build a combined organization that has scale and growth opportunities ahead. The two businesses share similar cultures – we both share our audiences’ passion, we’re data-driven, ambitious and both have an innovative mindset. From day one Future will be number one in the U.S. consumer technology sector, and beyond this we see clear opportunities for combined growth.”

UK, London & US, San Francisco, CA

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DVV acquires Smart Rail World

July 16, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

DVV Media InternationalRailway Gazette’s parent company DVV Media International has purchased events and digital media business Smart Rail World Ltd and its subsidiary Global Transport Forum Ltd. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The London-based business manages a suite of international events in the rail and transport sector including Smart Rail, Smart Transit, Smart Metro, Safe Rail and the Transport Security Congress. It also publishes industry news at www.smartrailworld.com.

DVV Media International Managing Director Andy Salter said, ‘This is a very exciting acquisition for us. We have been building our portfolio across digital media and events and the Smart Rail World business strategically aligns with our other transport and logistics products. This is a very powerful group of events and there’s a great team of people at the company. We are looking forward to working with them and seeing this business division develop strongly.’

UK, London

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Africa.com acquires iAfrica from Primedia and MTN

July 13, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Africa.comMedia holding company Africa.com has acquired Primedia and MTN-owned news portal, iAfrica.com. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

iAfrica was founded in the late 1990s, and continues to serve as a news source. Africa.com chairman and CEO, Teresa Clarke, will serve as executive editor of iAfrica, whose content will continue to include a wide array of coverage of local and international news, business, sport, and lifestyle content.

Clarke said, “The acquisition of iAfrica creates a next generation South African media platform with a global reach. By acquiring iAfrica, we are able to combine editorial, technology, and marketing resources, bringing the benefits of more original content and better site performance to readers of both iAfrica and Africa.com”.

Laura Joseph, Africa.com’s Managing Director, added, “We are fusing a legendary African news portal with an innovative and dynamic management team under one umbrella. With combined resources, we will continue to make each site better and better.”

South Africa, Johannesburg & Cape Town

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A Fusion Deal: Venues & Events Live sold to Ocean Media Group

July 10, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

squaremeal-v-e-2018Venues & Events Live, the UK’s leading events industry trade show and networking opportunity for corporate event organisers, has been sold by Monomax Limited to Ocean Media Group Limited, the London based events and digital information business. Paul Kelly, Director at Fusion, acted exclusively for Monomax Limited, the owner of Venues & Events Live Limited. The terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

Launched in 2005, Venues and Events Live attracts over 7,000 attendees in a business-focused but energetic environment. Venues and Events Live takes place at Old Billingsgate, London, over 2 days in September each year. With around 200 leading industry exhibitors, plus a full programme of features and workshops. Venues and Events Live is widely recognized as the key exhibition for anyone who organises corporate events.

In December 2016, Fusion also acted for the owners of Monomax Limited on the sale of Imbibe Media Limited to Reed Exhibitions, part of RELX Group. Imbibe Media Limited was the organisation behind Imbibe Live, the Imbibe media platforms, and the successful annual Sommelier Wine Awards.

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Paul Kelly

Speaking about the sale, Fusion’s Paul Kelly said, “It was a pleasure to work with Simon White and Mark de Wesselow again. Venues & Events Live is a fantastic show for corporate event organisers; it delivers a great mix of education, inspiration and ideas as well as countless opportunities to network, foster relationships, learn and pick up practical tips. I wish them every success”.

UK, London

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