Groupon acquires online flash fashion retailer ideeli for $43 million

January 13, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

grouponGroupon has acquired ideeli, an online flash fashion retailer for $43 million in cash.

Ideeli provides its  of members with access to leading brands in women’s and men’s apparel and accessories and home decor at discount prices. Founded in 2007 and based in New York, ideeli is one of the largest independent fashion flash sites.

“We are thrilled to add ideeli and their team to our company,” said Groupon CEO Eric Lefkofsky. “Ideeli extends our fashion presence and brings great relationships with many of the top brands in apparel. Our customers have a ideeli[1]demonstrated appetite for these offers, and by broadening our reach in this space Groupon is even better positioned as the place you start when you want to do or buy just about anything, anytime, anywhere.”

Ideeli will maintain its headquarters in New York and will continue to operate as a separate website.

USA, Chicago, IL & New York, NY

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YouGov acquires Hong Kong based market research company Decision Fuel

January 9, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

yougovYouGov plc, the online market research agency, has acquired Decision Fuel (“DF”). 

DF is a market research and technology company whose objective is to provide fast, high-quality research to the Asian market using online and especially, mobile-based, technology to reach consumers across the region.

YouGov will pay 6 times the EBITDA achieved by DF for the financial year ended 31 July 2016 and 2 times the EBITDA Decision-Fuelachieved for the financial year ended 31 July 2017. The EBITDA base to be used for FY 2017 is subject to a cap in that it may not exceed 150% of the FY 2016 EBITDA.  An initial payment of $ 1 million will be paid on completion to a group of minority shareholders who are not involved in the management of the business.  This will be deducted from any future earn-out payments.  The earn-out payments may be satisfied at YouGov’s option by cash or the issue of YouGov shares or a combination of the two. Based on YouGov’s business plans for DF, it currently expects the total consideration to be approximately £5 million. A maximum cap for contractual purposes has been set at £18 million.

In the year ended March 2013, DF made a loss of £460,000 before interest, depreciation and amortisation and had gross assets of £300,000 as at 31 March 2013.

DF has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore and its own proprietary platform for mobile-based research. DF was set-up in 2011 by two  buyers of research in the Asian region: Patrick Corr, formerly a senior executive with Star TV, the Asian TV network   and strategy firm Monitor, and Colin Marson, a former senior executive with Cerebos (part of Suntory) and strategy firm, Monitor. They will both continue to lead the business after it becomes part of the YouGov group. DF’s non-executive chairman is Adrian Chedore, the founder and former CEO of Synovate. Further funding since the company’s launch has been provided by a group of angel investors from the region.

DF’s business operates across Asia, conducting single and multi-country projects primarily in China and South-East Asia. It has already built a consumer panel of 60,000 across five countries where it offers an Omnibus style service.  Clients to date include global brands and media agencies.  DF currently has 14 staff most of whom are based in its Hong Kong base with business development teams located in Singapore and Shanghai. DF is licensed to operate in China through a WOFE (“wholly owned foreign enterprise “)

Following completion, DF will immediately adopt the YouGov brand and its integration will be overseen by YouGov’s Middle East management team, based in Dubai, which is managing the Group’s expansion to emerging markets.

Commenting on the acquisition, Stephan Shakespeare, CEO of YouGov, said:

“This acquisition meets our strategic objectives to increase further YouGov’s presence in high-growth markets.  Decision Fuel will help us to expand our Group’s business rapidly in the vital China and SE Asia markets that our clients are already asking us to serve. Decision Fuel’s mobile technology will also allow us to develop our mobile offering.  We are very pleased to add Decision Fuel to our growing global network.”

UK, London and Hong Kong

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Tarsus Group plc – acquisitions in China and Turkey – disposal in France

January 8, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

TarsusTarsus Group, the international business-to-business media group, has ended the year strongly with like-for-like organic revenue growth up by approximately 11%. Tarsus has also made new acquisitions in China and Turkey and agreed to dispose of up to 18% of the Group’s French business.

China – SIUF acquisition

The Group is to acquire 50% of the China (Shenzhen) International Brand Underwear Fair (“SIUF”) from Mr Zhang Fengwei and associates. SIUF was launched in 2006 and has become a leading show in the Asian Pacific market for underwear garments. It is an annual event, held in May at the Shenzhen Exhibition and Conference Centre in Southern China. The show comprised 15,900 square metres (net) of space in 2013 and Tarsus expects it to continue its track record of growth in 2014.

To date, SIUF’s core business has focused on domestic brands but going forward will seek to internationalise the exhibitor range as well as launch a new sourcing event for lingerie manufacturers. Mr Zhang Fengwei and associates will continue to manage the business post acquisition.

The consideration will be met from Tarsus’ existing cash resources and bank debt facilities. The acquisition is conditional on Chinese regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in the next few months.

Turkey – IFO minority interest acquisition

The Group acquired the outstanding 25% of the issued share capital of Istanbul based IFO not already owned by Tarsus in December 2013 from Mr Selahattin Durak, who will become an advisor to the Group. The Group purchased the initial 75% in June 2011.

IFO is one of the leading exhibition businesses in Turkey whose three events are Asansor (Lifts), REW Istanbul (Recycling and Waste Management) and Sign Istanbul (Outdoor Advertising and Visual Communications). The consideration will be met from Tarsus’ existing cash resources and bank debt facilities.

France

The Group has agreed to sell up to 18% of its French business to Romuald Gadrat, the incumbent Managing Director of the division, who will continue to run the business going forward.

Douglas Emslie, Tarsus Group Managing Director, said:

“These transactions are another key step in the execution of our “Quickening the Pace” strategy.

“We are delighted to add SIUF, a market leading exhibition to our portfolio. China is an important market for us and this acquisition fits with our “Quickening the Pace” strategy as well as providing synergies with our Off-Price shows in the US. This acquisition will consolidate our position in this fast growth market.

“IFO was Tarsus’s first purchase in Turkey and we have been very pleased with its performance since then, so we are delighted to acquire the remaining 25% stake in the business.”

The Group expects to announce its final results for the year ended 31 December 2013 during the week commencing 3 March 2014.

UK, London & China, Shenzhen & Turkey, Istanbul & France, Paris

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Yahoo acquires Aviate

January 7, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

Yahoo has acquired Aviate, a startup produces an app, which is still in beta, to organises the apps on the home screen of Android devices. Aviate is the first product from San Francisco-based startup ThumbsUp Labs. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition was announced by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer during her keynote speech at the 2014 International CES.

You can see Mayer’s keynote speech here.

Aviate

Talking about the acquisition, Mayer said, “It is no secret we are amidst a massive and continuing shift to mobile,” Mayer said onstage at one of the world’s largest tech events. “But the shift is not just about proliferation, it’s also about how much time we are spending on phones. Weather, mail, finance, news — mobile puts them in your pocket and makes them a daily habit. We acquired Aviate because we believe home screens should be smarter and more personalised.”

It is Yahoo’s first acquisition announcement of 2014. Yahoo acquired 28 startups in 2013.

USA, Sunnyvale, CA & Palo Alto, CA

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Coupons.com acquires Yub

January 6, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

Coupons.com Corp Logo - Full Color - RGBCoupons.com has acquired Yub, Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Yub allows consumers to link digital offers and promotions to payment cards for instant savings when they use the cards for in-store purchases. Merchants, retailers and restaurants can easily track offers from online clicks to offline purchases. Coupons.com plans to bring its scale, affiliate network reach and merchant base to the Yub platform to increase consumer adoption.

Yub, which is privately held, is based in Mountain View, California.

USA, Mountain View, CA

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News Corp acquires Irish social news agency Storyful

January 4, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

newscorpRupert Murdoch’s media company News Corp has acquired Storyful, a Dublin-based start-up social news agency, for €18 million.

Storyful discovers, verifies, acquires and distributes timely and relevant video and user-generated content to its partners.  With its combination of proprietary technology and journalistic expertise, Storyful also provides social media dashboards, real-time discovery tools, feeds and analytics to its customers, allowing them to integrate video into their news or advertising efforts via online and mobile platforms and to monitor social conversations and sentiment. So far in 2013, verified user-generated videos managed by Storyful generated 750 million views for its partners.

“Storyful has become the village square for valuable video, using journalistic sensibility, integrity and creativity to find, authenticate and commercialise user-generated content,” said Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp. “Through this acquisition, we can extend the village square across borders, languages and platforms.”

Storyful’s management team of Chief Executive Officer Mark Little and Executive Editor David Clinch will continue to oversee the company’s operations. Rahul Chopra, Senior Vice President of Video for News Corp, will join the Storyful management team, taking on the additional role of Chief Revenue Officer. Mr. Little will report to David Brinker, News Corp Senior Vice President and Global Head of Business & Corporate Development.

Storyful remains headquartered in Dublin, where the company was founded in 2010. Additional business development and advertising sales staff will be hired and based in New York. The business will operate as a stand-alone business unit within News Corp and continue to work with its existing roster of global customers, which includes The Wall Street Journal.

USA, New York, NY & Ireland, Dublin

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Richard Desmond to sell Channel 5

January 2, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

channel 5The FT is reporting that Richard Desmond has asked advisers to work on a possible sale of Channel 5, Britain’s fifth terrestrial television network. Channel 5 was launched in March 1997 and acquired by Mr Desmond for £103.5m in 2010.

The FT quotes a person familiar with the process as saying that Mr Desmond would seek a price in excess of £700m, equivalent to 10 times the network’s expected earnings before interest and taxation this year.

The group returned to operating profits with £20.6m in the first half of 2013, compared with a £16.1m loss a year earlier, although viewing figures have remained steady. In November 2013, Channel 5 was the fifth most popular television channel in the UK with a 3.9 per cent share of the monthly average viewing figures according to the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB).

Potential buyers are said to include ITV and US network Turner Broadcasting.

UK, London

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Groupon completes the acquisition of Ticket Monster

January 2, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet
grouponGroupon has completed the acquisition of Ticket Monster from LivingSocial, a  Korean ecommerce company, for $260 million in cash and stock. The final allocation paid to LivingSocial, Inc. was $100 million in cash and $160 million in Groupon Class A common stock, subject to registration rights.

As previously reported, Groupon has acquired LivingSocial Korea, Inc., the holding company that owns Ticket Monster. LivingSocial Korea’s Malaysian subsidiary was divested prior to close and is not part of this transaction.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2013, LivingSocial Korea, Inc., excluding its Malaysiantmon subsidiary, had gross billings of $572.7 million, revenue of $78.5 million, an operating loss of $38.7 million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $0.7 million.

See previous Fusion DigiNet reporting.

The Ticket Monster brand and leadership team will remain in place and continue to be led by Daniel Shin, CEO of Ticket Monster. The company will maintain its headquarters in Seoul, where it employs approximately 1,000 employees.

USA, Chicago & Korea, Seoul

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ITE Group – Annual Financial Report

December 27, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

ITEInternational trade exhibitions and conferences group ITE Group has published its Annual Financial Report for the year to September 2013. 

The group continued to expand its business in the year through a mixture of organic and acquisition led growth and has now established itself in the Asian exhibition markets through its investments in ABEC in India, Tradelink and ECMI in Malaysia and since the end of the financial year in Sinostar in China.

Good organic growth across ITE’s core portfolios in Russia and the CIS together with a strong biennial performance from the Moscow International Oil and Gas Exhibition have combined with the newly acquired businesses in Asia to deliver record financial and operating results.

In this, the stronger year of its biennial pattern, ITE’s revenues were £192.3 million (2012: £172.3 million) and yielded headline profits before tax of £59.4 million (2012: £53.0 million) and headline diluted earnings per share of 19.3p (2012: 16.9p). Reported pre‑tax profit was £43.9 million (2012: £40.5 million) and fully diluted earnings per share was 14.0p (2012: 12.8p). The Group finished the year with net cash of £23.5 million (2012: £13.0 million), after investing £26.1 million on acquisitions during the year.

Although large events have traded well, much of 2013 growth has come from ITE’s portfolio of medium sized events, often run from the smaller regional offices. This growth in smaller events looks set to continue into 2014, and ITE forecasts economic growth in Russia to be maintained at current levels.

At 30 November revenues booked for 2014 were £106 million, representing circa 55% of market expectations for 2014 revenues. On a like‑for‑like basis revenues are circa 7% ahead of last year.

The recent announcement of the Sinostar joint venture means ITE enters the new financial year with good business prospects in three of the major emerging market economies: Russia, India and China.

Download ITE’s 2013 Annual Financial Report here.

UK, London

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PA Group sell MeteoGroup to General Atlantic

December 17, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

meteoPA Group, the parent company of the Press Association, is to sell its weather business MeteoGroup to global growth investment firm General Atlantic.

MeteoGroup, Europe’s largest private sector weather business, provides weather services for corporate, industrial, media and consumer markets including key sectors such as transport, marine and energy.

Since PA’s acquisition of MeteoGroup in 2005, the business has enjoyed consistent double digit growth in both revenue and profit and has more than doubled in size, employing almost 400 people in 14 countries.

Clive Marshall, PA Group’s Chief Executive, said: “The sale of MeteoGroup will provide the capital to enable us to continue to invest in and diversify the Press Association business, as well as address our pension fund deficit.

“This sale, which follows the divestment of our interest in Canada Newswire in 2012, is part of the company’s strategy to focus our activities on the Press Association news and information business; develop new products and services for both media and non-media customers; and seek strategic acquisitions that help diversify the revenue and profits of the company.

“Our recent investments in Globelynx and Sticky Content – companies that provide services to both the media and corporate markets – are key elements in our diversification strategy.

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