Al Jazeera Acquires Current TV

January 9, 2013 — askhabra

al-Jazeera-0021Qatar based Al Jazeera has acquired US cable network Current TV. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, however, analysts have estimated the deal could have been worth up to $500 million (Source).

Current TV was launched in 2005 by former US Vice President Al Gore and fellow Democrat Joel Hyatt centred on featuring a mixture of user generated content and original programming. With this approach the network achieved only disappointing ratings, prompting a shift towards traditional programming in 2009. Later movements towards becoming a more progressive news channel have brought typical viewer figures of around 42,000.

Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, director general of Al Jazeera, said in a statement “by acquiring Current TV, Al Jazeera will significantly expand our existing distribution footprint in the US, as well as increase our newsgathering and reporting efforts in America.”

Al Jazeera has continued that it will eventually replace Current TV’s programming and plans to use the acquisition to create Al Jazeera America (separate from Al Jazeera English), enabling it to allow its programming to reach more than 40 million US households, compared to the 4.7 million today. Furthermore, Al Jazeera will open bureaus in the US in addition to those already existing in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago, doubling its US based staff.

Qatar, Doha & US, San Francisco, CA

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Demand Media Acquires Name.com

January 9, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

DemandMediaDemand Media, a digital media company, has acquired Denver-based Name.com, a domain name registrar. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2003, Name.com customers have registered nearly 1.5 million domains, and use the company’s tools and services to grow nametheir online presence. As the second largest registrar in the World, Demand Media’s eNom subsidiary has over 13.5 million domain names on its platform registered by over 8,800 resellers and partners.

“Name.com will provide a direct channel for us to reach consumers and small businesses as they develop and manage their online identities,” said Richard Rosenblatt, chairman and CEO, Demand Media. “This becomes even more valuable as over one thousand new domain extensions are expected to become available for registration in the years ahead.”

Demand Media will retain the Denver-based team and the business will report to Taryn Naidu, executive vice president, Registrar Services. “Our strategy is to provide an end-to-end solution for all things domains — whether you are looking to consume or distribute names and services,” said Naidu. “Name.com brings innovation, creativity and a deep commitment to their customers – factors which we believe are essential in the environment of new gTLDs.”

USA, Santa Monica, USA

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Pamplin Media Group acquires six weekly newspapers from Eagle Newspapers

January 9, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

pamplinPamplin Media Group, Oregon’s largest community news organization and a subsidiary of R.B. Pamplin Corp., has acquired six weekly newspapers from Eagle Newspapers, a Salem-based company. The newspapers included in the acquisition are: the Canby Herald, Madras Pioneer, Molalla Pioneer, Newberg Graphic, Wilsonville Spokesman and Woodburn Independent.

“We are excited to add these outlets to the family of Pamplin community newspapers,” said Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr., owner of Pamplin eagleMedia Group and R.B. Pamplin Corp. “This acquisition strengthens our ability to share important community news with more residents in more places.”

“Now, we’ll reach half a million print readers each week, and hundreds of thousands more online and through our radio stations,” Pamplin added. “This puts us on equal footing, in terms of reach, with any other media in Oregon. With this acquisition, there’s no media larger in the state than Pamplin Media Group.”

Eagle Newspapers was founded in 1948 by former Oregon Gov. Elmo Smith. Under the leadership of his son, former Congressman Denny Smith, the company grew to 25 holdings in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, including dailies in The Dalles and Sunnyside, Wash. The company also owns four press plants, a mailing service and publishes various other specialty publications and phone books.

Pamplin Media Group also owns the Portland Tribune and 17 other newspapers throughout Portland, including newspapers in Gresham, Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Tigard and Clackamas.

USA, Portland, OR & Salem. MA

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InMobi acquires Overlay Media

January 9, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

inmobiIndependent mobile advertising network InMobi has acquired Overlay Media. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Overlay Media is a developer of mobile data analytics based technologies. The company’s flagship product, the Context Engine, enables intelligent on-device behaviour, wiser use of battery power and increased personalisation.

Naveen Tewari, Founder and CEO at InMobi said, “We are excited to add amazing talent to InMobi. This overlaylogoacquisition, along with Metaflow Solutions and MMTG Labs, will help us to continue to be at the forefront of delivering highly engaging content to consumers globally.”

The Overlay Media team will be based from the InMobi London EMEA HQ.

Singapore & UK, London

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IAC acquires Tutor.com

January 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

IACIAC has acquired Tutor.com, an online tutoring solution. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 1998, Tutor.com connects students anytime, anywhere with more than 2,500 screened and qualified tutors for immediate one-to-one sessions. Historically focused on core K-12 subjects, Tutor.com has more recently expanded into AP courses, test prep, college-level curriculum, and real-time writing help.

“Tutor.com has done the hard part, having built over many years an incredible nationwide network of high quality tutors ready to help tutorstudents improve their learning,” said Greg Blatt , CEO of IAC. “We think it’s ripe for us to accelerate usage by bringing to bear our consumer Internet expertise in areas like product, marketing and distribution. It’s not often we find a company with such untapped potential that our particular skill set can help unlock, in an area that truly helps people improve their lives, all at a compelling valuation. Although it’s small, we’re excited about the acquisition.”

George Cigale will remain CEO and continue to run the business from Tutor.com’s offices in New York City.

USA, New York, NY

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DMGT has completed its disposal of Northcliffe Media to Local World

January 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Previous reporting: Local World to acquire the regional publishing assets of Northcliffe and Iliffe Posted on November 21, 2012

DMGTDMGT has completed the disposal of Northcliffe Media, its regional newspaper business, to Local World. DMGT received cash proceeds of £52.5 million and shares representing a 38.7% stake in Local World, as indicated in the 21 November, 2012 announcement.

The Iliffe family, owners of Yattendon Group, have sold Iliffe News & Media to Local World in exchange for a 21.3% shareholding in the new business and Trinity Mirror has acquired a 20% shareholding. The remaining Local World shares were purchased by other investors including Artefact Group, an Investment Fund associated with Lord Ashcroft, and Odey Asset Management.

Northcliffe Media earned operating profits of £26 million from revenues of £213 million in the 12 months to September, 2012. DMGT localworldalso incurred £10 million of exceptional operating costs in respect of Northcliffe Media during the year. Local World’s pro forma combined operating profits are £29 million on revenues of £249 million for the year to 30 September, 2012.

DMGT has agreed with the Trustees of the Pension Funds affected that £30 million of the cash proceeds from the disposal will be paid into the Pension Funds. £15 million will be paid in the current financial year, of which approximately £5 million will be paid in respect of the Section 75 Employer’s Debt which arises as a result of the employees of Northcliffe Media leaving the Pension Funds. This follows a reorganisation of the Group in 2011 under which responsibility for the majority of the liabilities was apportioned to DMG Holdings Limited. The remaining £15 million will be paid in the 2013/14 financial year.

Key terms:

  • DMGT will to sell Northcliffe Media, its regional newspaper business for £52.5m in cash and a 38.7% shareholding in Local World. For the financial year ended 30 September 2011, Northcliffe Media had gross assets of £32m and made an operating profit of £17m.
  • The Iliffe family, owners of Yattendon Group, will sell Iliffe News & Media to Local World in exchange for a 21.3% shareholding in the new business.
  • Trinity Mirror will acquire a 20% shareholding in Local World for £14.2 million.
  • The remaining Local World shares will be purchased by other investors including Artefact Group, an Investment Fund associated with Lord Ashcroft, and Odey Asset Management.
  • Steve Auckland, currently Chief Executive of Northcliffe, will become CEO of Local World. Rachel Addison, Group Finance Director of Northcliffe, will assume the same role at the new company alongside a board of directors drawn from the main shareholders. The company will be chaired by David Montgomery.

Local World will become the fourth-largest regional newspaper publisher in the UK, with more than 107 print titles and 60 websites. DMGT will contribute more than 80 titles to the new venture, with another 36 coming from Iliffe News & Media.

The Local World transaction follows the disposal in November 2012 of Associated Neswpapers’ digital assets in central and eastern Europe for cash proceeds of € 32 million (£27 million). During the year to 30 September, 2012 these businesses accounted for £1.8 million of operating profit, £0.5m of share of profits from associates and £6 million of revenues.

UK, London

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Wolters Kluwer Health completes the acquisition of Health Language, Inc.

January 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

WaltersKluwerHealthWolters Kluwer Health, a provider of information and business intelligence for professionals, students and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health and pharmacy, has completed the acquisition of Health Language, Inc., a leader in the fast-growing Medical Terminology Management (MTM) market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“This acquisition of Health Language is a fit with our strategy to continually expand our market-leading point-of-care solutions portfolioHealthLanguage that helps customers around the globe realise the advantages of healthcare information technologies – within their business operations and at the point of care with patients,” said Arvind Subramanian , President & CEO, Wolters Kluwer Health Clinical Solutions. “Health Language is a recognized leader in the MTM field and the right expert to provide our customers with new levels of system interoperability to meet current and future healthcare information sharing needs.”

Health Language’s medical content terminology databases and software solutions enable hospitals, electronic medical record system providers (EMRs) and payers around the globe to manage, update and map disparate medical vocabularies and administrative codes used in U.S. and international settings. The company’s databases and software products include more than 180 standard terminologies and proprietary content sets to enable easier information sharing across many healthcare information technology systems.

The company also provides clinical content and professional services to enable interoperability, web-based terminology mapping, Meaningful Use compliance and ICD-10 conversion, a system of coding created by the World Health Organization that is in various phases of implementation worldwide. Health Language is headquartered in Denver, Colorado and has approximately 85 employees.

USA, Minneapolis, MN

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Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC acquires Californian conference business TTI/Vanguard

January 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney logoEuromoney Institutional Investor PLC, the international online information and events group, is expanding its membership events portfolio with the acquisition of TTI/Vanguard, which is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.

Euromoney paid US$8 million to acquire 87% of the equity of TTI/Vanguard. The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in itsTT! Vanguard first year.  The remaining equity will be acquired in two stages of an earn-out by December 2014.

TTI/Vanguard is a private membership organisation for executives who lead technology innovation in global organisations across the public, private and academic sectors. Enterprises subscribe to TTI/Vanguard’s conference series to explore how emerging and potentially disruptive technologies may affect their organisations, policy and society. Each of TTI/Vanguard’s five annual conferences is part classroom, part think-tank and part laboratory. At the core of TTI/Vanguard is its world-class Advisory Board of visionaries and futurists who inspire and develop TTI/Vanguard’s content direction (see footnote below).

Under its Institutional Investor brand, Euromoney runs a Financial Technology Forum in the United States and has a strong record of running and successfully building subscription memberships in asset management in the US, Europe and Asia. It now expects to apply this expertise to grow TTI/Vanguard’s business globally.

Dr. Len Kleinrock, past chairman, will remain a minority shareholder in the business and will be actively involved in TTI/Vanguard until at least December 2014.

“The acquisition of TTI/Vanguard is consistent with our strategy of applying our expertise to global sectors,” said Richard Ensor, Chairman of Euromoney. “This takes us into the high-technology content sector. Euromoney has a successful record of acquiring events businesses and accelerating their growth globally, as demonstrated over the past 15 years by the success of Institutional Investor which now has 13 subscription memberships around the world. We look forward to doing the same with TTI/Vanguard.”

Dr Kleinrock said: “Having successfully built TTI/Vanguard into a must-attend membership for heads of innovation and technology across a multitude of diverse industries from government to retail, finance to pharmaceuticals, I believe that Euromoney is ideally positioned to expand the TTI/Vanguard network and membership worldwide. We are confident that Euromoney’s portfolio and expertise will add tremendous value to what we have been consistently providing our members for more than 20 years. We look forward to sharing our know-how and experience and continuing to build a world-wide TTI/Vanguard community.”

UK, London & USA, Santa Monica, CA

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UPDATE: Permira acquires Ancestry.com for $1.6 billion

January 5, 2013 — askhabra

215_largeEuropean private equity firm Permira has completed its acquisition of Ancestry.com for $1.6bn or $32 per share in cash. The price is a 40 percent premium from the price when word of the company being offered for sale surfaced in June and includes vesting of any outstanding options. As a result of the deal, Ancestry.com will carry  ”just under $1 billion” in debt. This comes news comes 2 weeks after reports that Ancestry.com would not be able to proceed with the sale unless it disclosed more information about the deal before a shareholder vote on December 27 2012 (Source).

Ancestry.com officials were required to change revenue projections and publicly disclose that provisions of the deal barred other bidders from attempting to top Permira’s offer, said Delaware Chancery Court Judge Leo Strine. The vote took place as scheduled with the sale approved by shareholders owning approximately 75% of Ancestry.com common stock. Permira has since acquired all outstanding shares of Ancestry.com and its stock ceased trading on the NASDAQ on December 28th 2012.

Genealogy website Ancestry.com is the world’s largest online family history resource has more than two million subscribers who pay at least $12.95 a month for its content and online tools. More than 11 billion records have been added to the site in the past 16 years. Ancestry users have created more than 41 million family trees containing approximately 4 billion profiles. The press release for the transaction states that “There are no anticipated changes in the Ancestry.com operations.”

The buyout group includes the private-equity firm’s co-investors; members of Ancestry.com’s management, including Chief Executive Tim Sullivan and Chief Financial Officer Howard Hochhauser; and Spectrum Equity, which owns about 30 percent of Ancestry.com.

View original article.

USA, Utah & UK, London

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Mood Media Announces Acquisition of Technomedia Solutions

January 5, 2013 — askhabra

moodmedia-purpleMood Media Corporation has acquired the assets of Technomedia Solutions and its sister company GoConvergence for approximately $23 million in cash. In addition to the $23 million purchase price is a contingent consideration payable in 2014 dependant on the profitable growth of operations.

Technomedia Solutions and GoConvergence create and deliver media and technology for a range of projects including displays, kiosks and interactive content for multiple industries such as retail, hospitality, theme parks, performing arts, museums, special venue, education among others. The firm, formed in 2001, operates a turn-key model and has clients including Abercrombie & Fitch, Hard Rock Café International, Cirque du Soleil, Wanda Group as well as other global entertainment and education clients.  In 2012, Technomedia is expected to generate annual revenues of US$43 million and EBITDA of US$5.7 million.

“The transaction will be immediately accretive to Mood Media’s shareholders while accelerating the growth profile and competitive positioning of the combined businesses. We are excited about the opportunity ahead and look forward to utilising our combined strengths to build on what Technomedia has established in concert with Mood’s initiatives to help our customers achieve their goals,” stated Lorne Abony , Chairman and CEO of Mood Media.

CA, Concord, ON & USA, Orlando, FL

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