Sky acquires majority stake in Love Productions

July 22, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

sky summer_logoSky has acquired a 70 per cent stake in Love Productions, a UK-based independent production company founded in October 2004 by Richard McKerrow and Anna Beattie.

Love Productions has production bases in London, Bristol, New York and Los Angeles. Love Productions programmes include Great British Bake-off, Great British Sewing Bee, Baby Borrowers, Famous Rich and Homeless, Benefits Street, Make Bradford British and My Last Summer.

love productionsLove Productions will continue to operate as a distinct company under its new ownership structure. This means it will carry on producing programmes for all the major UK broadcasters, as well as creating new programmes and formats for sale around the world. McKerrow and Beattie will continue to run the company with the current senior management team.

Sophie Turner Laing, Managing Director, Content, Sky said: “This is a significant step for our growing international content business. Love is one of the UK’s most innovative and creative independent producers with a track record of success across a range of genres, both in the UK and globally. Led by Richard and Anna, Love has a hugely talented team with exciting plans for the future. We are really looking forward to supporting them as they build on their relationships with different broadcasters throughout the industry and helping them to grow the business”.

Sky’s international distribution business, Sky Vision, will become Love Productions’ distribution partner, representing all new finished programmes and formats.  Love Productions’ current agreements with other broadcasters and distributors will remain unchanged.

UK, London

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I-5 Publishing acquires Dogster and Catster from SAY Media

July 18, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

i-5I-5 Publishing, a provider of multi-platform content for special interest communities and brands, has acquired Dogster and Catster from SAY Media.

Say Media acquired Dogster and Catster in April 2011.

Dogster and Catster, which draw a combined 2.5 million visitors a month, serve as a one-stop resource for dog owners and cat owners, respectively, and offer information about grooming, diet, health and well-being.

“As the world’s largest owned and operated online pet network, we want to bring a pet owner’s voice to our line of products, while executing on our commitment to growing our digital footprint, which is dogstercritical as we continue to evolve and expand our business,” said Mark Harris, CEO of I-5 Publishing. “We look forward to integrating and leveraging the Dogster and Catster properties to bolster our company efforts and serve current and future pet owners and pet businesses across the globe.”

The Catster and Dogster teams will report to I-5 General Manager & Vice President, Digital Jennifer Black. Catster and Dogster will remain headquartered in San Francisco, Calif.

USA, Irvine, CA & San Francisco, CA

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Care.com acquires social commerce platform Citrus Lane

July 18, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

careCare.com, an online destination for finding and managing family care, has acquired Citrus Lane, a social commerce platform designed for mothers. The acquisition has been completed for consideration of $22.9 million cash and $8.1 million in equity at close. The agreement also provides for up to an additional $17.6 million in earn out payments of cash and equity over the next two years subject to Citrus Lane’s achievement of certain milestones in 2015 and 2016.

Based in Mountain View, CA, Citrus Lane is a subscription-based social commerce service selling curated products to families on a monthly basis. The company sources and reviews every product it recommends, while also encouraging parents to share information on their favourite product discoveries.

citrus laneCitrus Lane currently has more than 400,000 members, of which 45,000 are paying subscribers. The company had revenue of approximately $6 million in 2013, representing more than 300% growth over 2012. Care.com anticipates that revenues for Citrus Lane will double in 2014. On average, members engage with Citrus Lane more than five times a month; more than 2,000,000 member-generated product votes have been posted; and more than half of all orders are placed via mobile devices.

In making the announcement, Care.com Founder and CEO Sheila Lirio Marcelo said, “Care.com’s mission is to be there for families, providing the best care solutions, services, advice and support. Citrus Lane is a natural extension of that mission, providing the best products for families with children, and creating a social community in which moms can share. Both companies have an overwhelmingly female membership so by adding this new dimension to our business, we’ll be helping moms in a new way, engaging with them on an even more frequent basis, and building on our robust mom-community.”

Ms. Marcelo continued, “Building community and content are significant areas of focus for us. The addition of social commerce capabilities is a natural extension of our marketplace and a progression towards becoming the one-stop-shop for everything families need. The talented team Mauria has built in Mountain View, California will play a key part in helping us innovate and grow our family-focused platforms.”

Mauria Finley, Founder and CEO of Citrus Lane will become SVP, GM of Citrus Lane and will continue to run Citrus Lane, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Care.com.

USA, Waltham, MA & Mountain View, CA

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Entertainment One acquires Paperny Entertainment 

July 18, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

eoneEntertainment One Ltd has agreed to acquire the Paperny Entertainment group of companies, an independent television producer operating across Canada and the United States, from the Paperny Sellers.

Paperny comprises:  Paperny Entertainment Inc. and Altamont Holdings Ltd.

The Paperny Sellers comprise:  David Paperny, Audrey Mehler, Cal Shumiatcher, Completion Investments Inc., Playtime Investments Ltd., 0865631 B.C. Ltd. and CS Family Trust.

Based in Vancouver, with operations in Toronto and New York, Paperny specialises in the development and production of non-scripted television programming, including a range of character-driven documentaries, reality shows and comedies.   Its roster of recent and returning programming includes: Chow Masters (Travel Channel (US)), Cold Water Cowboys (Discovery Channel (Canada)), Chopped Canada (Food Network (Canada)), and Yukon Gold (History Channel (Canada)).

papernyPaperny is being acquired for a total consideration of approximately C$29.2 million, satisfied by the issue of 2,571,803 common shares in Entertainment One Ltd. (the “Consideration Shares”) and approximately C$14.5 million in cash.

In the year to 31 December 2013, Paperny generated unaudited revenue of C$17.6 million and unaudited net income before income taxes of C$5.1 million.  As at 31 December 2013, Paperny had unaudited gross assets of C$20.3 million.

Paperny is led by David Paperny (Founder and President), Audrey Mehler (Founder and Executive Vice President), and Cal Shumiatcher (Executive Vice President).  Following completion, these three will remain with the business on new long term employment contracts.

It is expected that completion will take place on or around 31 July 2014.  In completing the acquisition of Paperny, in respect of the Consideration Shares, application will be made to the UK Listing Authority and the London Stock Exchange for 2,571,803 common shares in Entertainment One Ltd. to be admitted to the Official List and to trading on the London Stock Exchange.  The shares shall rank pari passu with the existing common shares of the Company.

Darren Throop, Chief Executive Officer, commented: 

“We are delighted that the Paperny team is joining eOne.  Under the leadership of David, Audrey and Cal, Paperny has grown significantly and has developed an excellent reputation for producing high quality, non-scripted television content.  As part of our enlarged TV business, we look forward to continuing that development and realising further international distribution opportunities across the eOne Group.”

UK, London & Canada, Vancouver

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Euromoney acquires Investing in African Mining Indaba for £45.3M

July 16, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

investing in miningEuromoney has acquired the Mining Investment Events Division of US-based Summit Professional Networks for £45.3 million, funded from Euromoney’s existing committed borrowing facilities.

The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing for the financial year to September 30, 2015, the first year the event will be run under Euromoney’s ownership.   However, due to the timing of the conference, the acquisition is expected to reduce Euromoney’s adjusted operating profits for the year to September 30, 2014 by approximately £1 million. The business achieved an adjusted EBITDA (before allocation of Summit central costs) of £6.2 million for the year to June 30, 2014, and the gross assets were £1.7 million at June 30, 2014, according to the division’s pro-forma management accounts. The transaction gives the group access to an extended international customer base of upstream and downstream commodity providers, traders, asset managers, alternative investors and African government ministries.

Euromoney logoThe principal asset being acquired is the leading investment forum and trade event for African mining, the Investing in African Mining Indaba. Set up 20 years ago, Mining Indaba is an annual professional conference dedicated to the investment in, and development of, mining interests in Africa. It is the world’s largest mining investment forum and Africa’s largest mining event.  It takes place every February in Cape Town, South Africa, and attracts over 7000 of the most internationally-diversified and influential professionals in African mining. Senior Vice-President and Managing Director, Jonathan Moore, will join Euromoney and run the business from Euromoney’s New York office.

Euromoney already has a strong presence in the commodities markets and with investors, in particular through its Metal Bulletin and Institutional Investor brands. The acquisition provides Euromoney with an excellent opportunity to expand its position in these markets. The overlap with Euromoney’s existing portfolio of online publishing activities and investment conferences will allow Euromoney to develop and grow Mining Indaba as well as position it to capitalise on an upturn in the $1.2 trillion global metals and mining sector.

UK, London & USA, New York & South Africa, Cape Town

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Scribble Technologies acquires CoveritLive from Demand Media

July 15, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

scribble-coveritScribble Technologies, a content engagement platform, has acquired CoveritLive from Demand Media. Used by brands like Marvel, Ford, NFL, NHL, BBC, and Fox, CoveritLive provides deep functionality around the design and production of interactive content. Demand Media acquired CoveritLive early in 2011.

“2014 has been a great year for Scribble and our company’s growth. We’ve expanded our international presence, released a new enterprise product, and powered more than 4 billion engagement minutes in the past 30 days alone,” said Vincent Mifsud, CEO at ScribbleLive. “CoveritLive will help us accelerate our growth rate even further and exponentially increase our influence in the market.”

In the immediate future ScribbleLive and CoveritLive will operate as separately branded solutions. Over time Scribble will integrate the two products.

ScribbleLive is the leading end-to-end content engagement platform that enables brands, sports organizations and media companies to drive engagement on their digital assets resulting in improved retention and acquisition of customers, fans and audiences. ScribbleLive has an international network of customers including world-class brands such as Samsung, Shell, PwC, CNN, The Football League, Mashable, Reuters, Fast Company, CNET and hundreds of others. The company was founded in 2008 and has offices in Toronto, New York, Nashville, London, Dubai, Melbourne, and Sao Paulo. ScribbleLive is a Twitter Certified Product. For more information, visit .

Canada, Toronto & USA, Santa Monica, CA

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LinkedIn acquires Newsle

July 14, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

linkedin-iconLinkedIn has acquired Newsle, a service that sends you notifications when people you know or care about are in the news. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The announcement follows:

We know LinkedIn is a place you visit to stay up-to-speed on your network, showcase and strengthen your professional identity and read content to glean professional insights that help you make more informed business decisions.

Over the past year or so, we’ve introduced several new ways for you to further access this exchange of information to be better informed, educated and inspired by the business knowledge that exists on LinkedIn. For example, we’ve given you the ability to publish long form posts and add photos, videos and presentations to your profile; integrated LinkedIn and Pulse; and launched the Influencer program. But there’s more work to be done. That’s why I’m so excited to welcome Jonah Varon, Axel Hansen and the rest of Newsle to the LinkedIn family.

LinkedIn and Newsle share a common goal: We both want to provide professional insights that make you better at what you do. For example, knowing more about the people in your network – like when they’re mentioned in the news – can surface relevant insights that help you hit your next meeting with them out of the park.

For the last three years, Newsle has leveraged its disambiguation, natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to build an extremely compelling product that finds blogs and articles that mention you or anyone you care about – colleagues, bosses, industry thought leaders, etc. – and notifies you seconds after they’ve published. We’re excited to work with Newsle’s team to combine this technology with our core assets and build experiences that continue to make you and millions of other professionals more productive and successful.

In the meantime, Newsle users will continue experiencing this great product as always. Newsle has done an amazing job creating a service that professionals rely on daily for insights, and we look forward to making the experience even better together. Please join me in welcoming Newsle to LinkedIn, and click here for Newsle’s take.

USA, Mountain View & San Francisco, CA

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Independent Media Trust completes acquisition of control of Network18

July 9, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has announced that Independent Media Trust (IMT) of which RIL is the sole beneficiary, has completed the acquisition of control of Network 18 Media and Investments Limited (NW18) including its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast Limited (TV18).
Apart from nominees of IMT, Shri Deepak S Parekh and Shri Adil Zainulbhai have been inducted, as Independent Directors on the board of NW18. Mr. Raghav Bahl will continue to be on the Board of NW18 as a Non-executive Director, an RIL press release said.
“With the completion of this transaction, IMT and RIL have become promoters of NW18 and TV18. The open offers to the public shareholders for acquisition of equity shares of NW18, TV18 and Infomedia Press Ltd. as announced on May 29, 2014 by IMT are in process and the Draft letter of offer has been filed with SEBI for its comments,”
Read the full report in the economic Times here
India, Mumbai
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Progressive Digital Media Group acquires CurrentAnalysis

July 8, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

progressiveProgressive Digital Media Group Plc has acquired CurrentAnalysis Inc., for a gross consideration of US $19.6 million in cash payable on completion. Completion, which is subject to the approval of CurrentAnalysis shareholders, is expected to occur within 30 days and will be funded from the Group’s existing cash resources.

currentanalysis-s2CurrentAnalysis provides subscription based business intelligence services to the ICT industry. The company has offices in Washington D.C, London and Singapore. For the financial year ended 31 December 2013, CurrentAnalysis reported revenues of approximately $13 million, with net liabilities of approximately $2.3 million.

It is expected that the acquisition will be earnings accretive within the first twelve months post acquisition, though the impact on the Group results to 31 December 2014 are expected to be broadly neutral.

Commenting on the acquisition Simon Pyper, Chief Executive of Progressive Digital Media, said: “The acquisition of CurrentAnalysis satisfies all of our acquisition criteria, providing subscription based business information services to blue chip companies operating in a global sector. Additionally, CurrentAnalysis augments our existing platform and significantly increases our footprint in the key North American market.”

UK, London & USA, Washington, DC

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Beta Music Group acquires Digital Media Company, Viewpon

July 7, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

viewponDigital media holding company Beta Music Group has completed the acquisition of Viewpon Holdings. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Viewpon is a lifestyle entertainment, digital media and listing services website that features small businesses across San Francisco, Sacramento, Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.

Jim Ennis, Chief Executive Officer of Beta Music Group, said, “Launched over four years ago, the Viewpon digital media platform and television show has created instant success for small and medium-sized local businesses along the west coast. We have worked closely over the past several months with Viewpon’s executive management and are excited to be working together regarding this expansion. Viewpon, with their extensive experience in television production and serving the small business sector, is a key strategic partner for our Company,”

USA, Miami, FL

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