Chicago Tribune Media Group acquires Naperville Magazine

January 11, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Chicago Tribune Media Group has acquired Naperville Magazine from Oster Communications LLC.  Naperville Magazine was launched in 2005 and is a controlled distribution, monthly publication with a circulation of 30,000.  With a focus on health, fitness, style, restaurant reviews and home features, it is the premier community lifestyle magazine dedicated specifically to Naperville area.  

“We are thrilled to be part of the Chicago Tribune Media Group.  The synergies we will generate will drive more value and service to the Naperville community,” said Leah Rippe, Publisher of Naperville Magazine.

Leah will report to Rich Gamble, who adds Naperville Magazine his current responsibilities as Publisher & General Manager of Chicago magazine. “This is a great addition to our portfolio,” said Gamble.  “We’re excited to extend our reach in this important suburban area. Naperville is a great complement to our existing offerings and provides new targeted solutions for our advertisers looking to reach an affluent, educated and active audience.”  

USA, Chicago, IL

Posted in Content Media, Publishers, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

Research shows smaller buyouts bounce back in 2010

January 11, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Source – Lyceum Capital and Cass Business School

The total value of smaller private equity buyouts completed during 2010 rose to over £2.5billion, a 150 per cent increase on 2009 levels, according to data from The UK Growth Buyout Dashboard.

The quarterly trend analysis of private equity transactions in the £10 million to £100 million segment produced by Lyceum Capital and Cass Business School shows 68 companies raised an estimated £2,504 million of buyout funding in 2010. This compares with 34 transactions and £1,045 million of funding during the previous 12 months.
The figures provide further evidence that increasing numbers of successful SMEs are seeking private equity investors’ capital and expertise to drive their post-recession expansion plans.

Commenting on the report, Andrew Aylwin, Partner at Lyceum Capital, said: “The long-term investment outlook is positive. There is a bed-rock of SMEs requiring capital to consolidate their performance and complete the transformation into more mature, high-growth enterprises. This growth will ensure the lower mid-market continues to be a highly attractive asset class for private equity investment that is capable of creating consistently strong returns for investors.”

To go to The UK Growth Buyout Dashboard click here

Posted in B2B Services, Broadcasting, Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Consultancy, Content Media, e-Commerce, Energy & Environmental Services, Games, Internet Media, Market Data & Information, Marketing/Advertising, Mobile Apps, Publishers, Research Reports, ~Europe. Leave a Comment »

LinkedIn to go public in 2011

January 7, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Reuters is reporting that LinkedIn, the social networking site for professionals, plans to go public in 2011. Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and JPMorgan are among the book runners.

Their sources say that Internet companies such as LinkedIn and Zynga, a popular maker of online social games, are considering offerings well ahead of a potential IPO of Facebook.

Linkedin is backed by investors include Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.

Read the full story here

USA, Mountain Views, CA

Related articles:

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

FamilyFinds acquires Mamaloot

January 7, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

FamilyFinds.com, an online daily deal site focused on services and experiences for families, has acquired Mamaloot – a daily deal site focused on families in the Chicago market.  Mamaloot will now operating under the FamilyFinds name.

“We are expanding across the country in a rapidly growing market, so the opportunity to add both a presence in a top market and experienced, passionate team members makes sense,” said Matt Coffin, chief executive officer, FamilyFinds.  “The team at Mamaloot had a similar idea when they launched as we did; provide great deals across local communities to the families that seek them out.”

“This marks the first of our growth expansion plans into key markets nationwide,” said Brian Barnum, president, FamilyFinds.  “Now reaching all of Los Angeles and Chicago allows us to provide millions of families with up to 90% off at places they shop, eat and play, as well as offer inspirational ideas on fun things to do with family.”

USA, Santa Monica, CA & Chicago, IL

Posted in Content Media, e-Commerce, Internet Media, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

Repucom acquires Image Impact

January 7, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Repucom America, the provider of broadcast content measurement in the United States, has acquired Image Impact.

The operational merging of Repucom and Image Impact will be undertaken over the next six months and will bring a consolidated, single voice to the measurement of content in the US and Global sports market.

In announcing the deal, the CEO of Repucom, Paul Smith praised the Founder of Image Impact, Russ Cline, and his team for their efforts in building a very effective business.

“Ten years ago Russ Cline revived the role of broadcast content analytics in sports marketing in the United States by bringing sound methodology and process to the largest sports media market in the world,” said Mr. Smith. “The opportunity to work in partnership with Russ and his entire team at Image Impact was one that made strategic, commercial and financial sense,” he added.

Russ Cline, CEO of Image Impact is delighted with the arrangement.  “In the last two years we have seen the US sports market becoming far more aligned with global research trends and initiatives.  We have sought to be part of a truly global business model and the opportunity with Repucom was ideal,” said Mr. Cline.

Through this transaction Image Impact will become part of RSMG Insights along with Sport+Markt AG and Repucom.  RSMG Insights is the largest specialist sports marketing research agency in the world.

USA, New York, NY & Kansas City, KS

Posted in Broadcasting, Content Media, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

ProQuest acquires ebrary

January 7, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet
ProQuest has acquired e-book pioneer ebrary.  The agreement will marry both companies’ user-centric technologies and add a growing pool of a quarter-million e-books to ProQuest’s content offerings.  The combined collection will enable users to search seamlessly across multiple formats – books, journals, dissertations, newspapers, video, and more – and across eight centuries of the world’s knowledge.  

“This is a game-changer for global research,” said Marty Kahn, ProQuest CEO.  “While a natural next step has been to enhance e-book discovery for ProQuest platform users, there’s also far greater potential here.  We’re primed for imaginative technology mash-ups that will energize users and accelerate the knowledge industry.  The creative minds and deft technologists of ebrary are a welcome and fitting addition to our future-oriented business.”  

Founded in Palo Alto in 1999, ebrary is a fast growing leader in the rapidly evolving e-book industry, having increased its 2010 revenue by more than 30 percent over the previous year.

ProQuest plans continued investment in ebrary’s popular products and services for the academic, corporate, and public library markets including Academic Complete™ the company’s flagship product.  ProQuest will also expand ebrary’s selection of research tools and ability to support new e-book devices as well as broadening language coverage from its current support of major European languages to include Chinese, Arabic and others.  Further, the company will accelerate the indexing of e-book content on its own platform where books offered by ebrary will be searchable along with ProQuest’s research content.   

ebrary founders Christopher Warnock and Kevin Sayar will remain to lead the business in its Palo Alto headquarters.  

“ebrary is extremely excited to become a part of ProQuest,” said Christopher Warnock, CEO of ebrary.  “There is tremendous synergy between our products and services as well as our teams.  Together, we know that we can provide best-of-kind services to libraries worldwide and the users they serve.”

“This is the next chapter for ebrary,” said Kevin Sayar, ebrary President.  “We are happy to be part of an organization with a broad range of strengths and we’re looking forward to collaborating in ways that will inspire entirely new information solutions and captivate new users.”

USA, Ann Arbor, MI & Palo Alto, CA

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

US information industry M&A report shows deal value and volume Up 36%

January 7, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Berkery Noyes has released its 2010 Information Market M&A Trends Report. The report analyses merger and acquisition activity in the US Information Industry in 2010 and compares it with activity in the three previous years.

Highlights

  • Transaction volume in 2010 surpassed 2009 by 36 percent, climbing to 2,046 transactions.
  • Transaction value has increased by 36 percent as well, with $112 billion in aggregate acquisition value.
  • The median revenue and EBITDA multiple both increased over 2009, with the revenue multiple rising to 1.8 and the EBITDA multiple to 11.2, a 29 percent increase over the 8.7 of 2009.

“Multiples have started to make a return to pre-crisis levels,” said James Berkery, CIO of Berkery Noyes. “There are more deals happening and there are higher valuations. While we’re not at the levels we saw in 2007, I think we’re well on the road to recovery.”

Strategic acquirers have been the most common acquirer in the industry, yet financially sponsored transactions rose 39 percent by value over 2009 while losing 2 percent in volume over 2009. This trend of larger financially sponsored transactions is further evidenced by two of the top seven deals by value this year being made by financial acquirers: Interactive data Corporation’s acquisition by Warbug Pincus and Silver Lake Partners for $3.2 billion and Visma ASA’s acquisition by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for $1.9 billion.

Google was not only the most active buyer in the information industry in 2010, with 28 acquisitions, but was also the most active buyer from 2007 through 2010, with 48 transactions during that time.

The largest transaction in 2010 was Intel Corporation’s announced acquisition of McAfee, Inc., for $7.55 billion.

To view the full report click here:

USA, New York, NY

Related articles:

Posted in B2B Services, Broadcasting, Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Consultancy, Content Media, e-Commerce, Energy & Environmental Services, Games, Internet Media, Market Data & Information, Marketing/Advertising, Mobile Apps, Publishers, Research Reports, ~Asia, ~Europe, ~Latin America and Caribbean, ~Middle East & Africa, ~North America, ~Oceana. Leave a Comment »

Skype To Acquire Qik

January 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Skype is to acquire Qik, a provider of mobile video software and services that enable individuals to capture and instantly share video from anywhere. Qik has 60 employees, and is headquartered in Redwood City, California and has an office in Moscow, Russia. The transaction is expected to close in January 2011. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, though it is being reported that Skye are paying $150 million, including an earnout.

Qik was founded in 2006 and offers innovative and flexible solutions to capture and share video with anyone across mobile devices, the web, and desktop platforms. Videos can be shared in real time or stored so moments can be viewed later, allowing for video messaging, sharing and archiving. The Qik service is available across the Android, iPhone, Symbian, Blackberry and Windows Mobile platforms, and comes pre-loaded on a wide variety of mobile handsets through partnerships with handset manufacturers and carriers.

The acquisition of Qik enables Skype to add video recording, sharing and storing capabilities to Skype’s product portfolio. Through this acquisition, Skype will also be able to leverage the engineering expertise that is behind Qik’s Smart Streaming™ technology, which optimizes video transmission over wireless networks.

“The Qik team has delivered exceptional video experiences for its mobile partners and millions of end users across a range of devices,” said Tony Bates, Skype’s Chief Executive Officer. “Skype’s software enables an estimated 25 percent of the world’s international long distance voice calling minutes , and approximately 40 percent of those Skype-to-Skype calls are happening over video. Qik’s deep engineering capabilities and strong mobile relationships will be an impressive complementary fit with Skype.”

“Qik has worked very hard to solve complex problems that allow millions of people everyday to take advantage of sharing their lives with those people who are most important to them,” said Vijay Tella, Chief Executive Officer of Qik. “Joining Skype allows Qik’s team to unite with Skype’s talented team to develop new and innovative products for our customers and partners.”

Luxembourg & USA, Redwood City, CA

Related articles

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, Mobile Apps, ~Europe, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

Games studio Firemint acquires Infinite Interactive

January 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Games studio Firemint has acquired fellow Australian studio, Infinite Interactive. The move further boosts Firemint’s strength in designing and developing original games, while providing the Infinite Interactive team with a channel for independent publishing.

Firemint was founded by Rob Murray in 1999. It became a highly regarded work-for-hire mobile games studio before shooting to fame with iPhone hits “Flight Control” and “Real Racing” in 2009. Firemint has recently expanded to additional platforms including Nintendo DSiWare, Sony PlayStation Network, and Steam (PC and Mac). The studio now works exclusively on self-published original games.

Infinite Interactive was founded by Steve Fawkner in 1989, and is best known for the “Warlords” and “Puzzle Quest” series of games, both designed by Fawkner. Fawkner is one of the games industry’s pre-eminent innovators, and has created more than 30 games in a career spanning more than 25 years. He takes on a product management position at Firemint, and will continue to work with his current team on a game already under development.

Murray said “I’m incredibly pleased to welcome Steve and his team to Firemint. Steve is an outstanding game designer and our two studios evolved very similar philosophies of developing addictive, fun and polished original games. By bringing our studios’ talents together, we will be able to create even more awesome games – and more of them.”

Fawkner commented, “Firemint has had huge success designing, developing and publishing great original games. By joining forces, we now have a way to further develop some of the exciting new concepts we’ve been working on. This new position really frees me up to focus on game design and I can’t wait to get stuck into it!”

Murray and Fawkner first met in 2003 and in early 2006, Fawkner showed Murray an early version of Puzzle Quest, which he had prototyped over his Christmas holiday. Murray explained, “Steve and I have been talking about working together for a long time, and I remember him showing me an early version of Puzzle Quest. This inspired me to make a game during my own holidays two years later, which was Flight Control – and now, another two years later, we’ve finally found a way to work together!”

Both studios are based in Melbourne, and will be consolidated in one location at Firemint’s recently expanded offices. All games developed by the studio will be released under the Firemint name. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Australia, Melbourne

Posted in Content Media, Games, Internet Media, ~Oceana. Leave a Comment »

PostUp acquires Echofon

January 5, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

PostUp has acquired Echofon, the suite of Twitter applications developed by naanstudio, and previously known as “TwitterFon” and “TwitterFox.”

Echofon is currently used by more than 3 million people internationally, across multiple platforms. Additionally, Echofon was one of the first Twitter applications to introduce User Streams, a new Streaming API that gives Twitter desktop applications real-time capabilities and streams. GigaOm included Echofon in its top five Twitter applications for iPad, citing its Echofon Pro synchronization capabilities for the iPad, iPhone and desktop. It also has an Echofon for Facebook app available for the iPhone.

USA, Pasadena, CA

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, ~North America. Leave a Comment »
« Older posts
Newer posts »