MOO.COM acquires Flavors.me from Hii Def

September 21, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

MOO.COM has acquired Flavors.me from Hii Def Inc. In the form of an asset purchase, MOO will retain the Flavors.me website, brand, technology, IP and customers in an all-cash deal. terms of the deal were not disclosed.

MOO one of the world’s fastest-growing online printers, focusing on both personal and professional identity products, such as business cards and now personal identity webpages. Flavors.me provides another way for customers to showcase themselves, but in a digital format that can be shared over email, mobile, social networks and the web.

Richard Moross, Founder and CEO of MOO.COM, said “We really admire what the Hii Def team has done with Flavors. It was clear that we shared many of the same values of good design and usability. When the opportunity arose to acquire the Flavors product we were very excited. Over the past six years, MOO has focused on helping people create beautiful print products to make them or their business look great. We’ve always had strong bonds with the web, from our first partnership with Flickr back in 2006, and more recently our integration with Facebook Timeline. Identity is core to what we do and this acquisition is a great fit for the MOO brand, giving us a 100% digital identity product to add to our existing range of print products. It’s a fantastic complement to our line-up, offering customers a beautiful personal web page that they can use to promote themselves or their business.”

Flavors.me will sit initially alongside MOO’s suite of physical products – business cards, postcards, greeting cards, stickers and other accessories – as a standalone product, but in the future the two businesses will become much more closely linked. MOO will continue to invest in the product to increase ease of use and enhance the mobile offering, as well as adding new design features.

UK, London and USA, Providence, RI

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Universal Music could get approval to buy EMI’s recorded music business as early as tomorrow

September 21, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

The FT is reporting that European and US competition regulators could approve Universal Music’s £1.2 billion bid for EMI’s recorded music business as early as Friday, but will demand that the Vivendi-owned Universal Music sell off at least a third of the company. The deal has already been cleared in several countries, including Australia and Japan.

Read the full story

 

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Publicis Groupe to acquire LBi for €416M

September 21, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Publicis Groupe are to acquire LBi for €2.85 per share in cash, valuing LBi at approximately €416 million.

LBi is one of the few large remaining independent digital communications agencies and the only one with a global footprint. Headquartered and listed in Amsterdam, LBi currently employs approximately 2,200 people in 16 countries (of which 630 are based in the UK) and has 32 offices around the world. Traditionally active in digital marketing, LBi has expanded its offering to a wide suite of digital media services, ranging from communication, e-commerce services to brand strategy, content, social media and mobile. LBi has succeeded in attracting and retaining a large number of prestigious clients, in a broad range of sectors, such as Lloyds TSB, Volvo, Johnson & Johnson, Coca Cola, Carlsberg and Ikea.

In 2011, LBi reported net revenue of €196.6 million, up 12.0% from 2010, and an adjusted EBITDA of €31.9 million implying a margin of 16.2%. In the first half of 2012, LBi reported net revenue of €119.4 million, up 18.2% from the equivalent period in 2011 on an organic basis, and an adjusted EBITDA of €19.9 million implying a margin of 16.7%.

“The acquisition of LBi is another step forward in further strengthening our digital operations” said Maurice Lévy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Publicis Groupe. “Within the global advertising landscape, LBi is a well known partner for extraordinary digital customer experiences, based on a blend of creativity and expertise in technology, strategy and social media. The integration of LBi will further enhance our capabilities and, through a wider pool of resources and talent, help deliver innovative and best-in-class services to our clients, which is our relentless focus. Furthermore, this acquisition has a positive impact on our EPS in the first year post acquisition.”

More details are available here

France, Paris & The Netherlands, Amsterdam

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Moneysupermarket.com’s acquisition of MoneySavingExpert is expected to complete tomorrow

September 20, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Update on September 21, 2012: Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC has confirmed the completion today of the acquisition of MoneySavingExpert.

Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC has confirmed the satisfactory completion of the UK merger control process in respect of its proposed acquisition of MoneySavingExpert.

The two principal conditions for completion of the Acquisition have now been met. The Company expects the Acquisition to complete on 21 September 2012.

UK, Ewloe, Wales

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Dice Holdings acquires Geeknet’s online media business for $20M

September 18, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Dice Holdings, a provider of specialised career websites has acquired Geeknet’s online media business, including Slashdot and SourceForge. Dice Holdings acquired the business for $20 million in cash.  In 2011, the online media properties generated $20 million in Revenues.

“The acquisition of these premier technology sites fits squarely into our strategy of providing content and services that are important to tech professionals in their everyday work lives,” said Scot Melland, Chairman, President & CEO of Dice Holdings, Inc. “The SourceForge and Slashdot communities will enable our customers to reach millions of engaged tech professionals on a regular basis and significantly extends our company’s reach into the global tech community.”

The sites include:

  • Slashdot, a user-generated news, analysis, peer question and professional insight community.  Tech professionals moderate the site which averages more than 5,300 comments daily and 3.7 million unique visitors each month.
  • SourceForge, a destination for technology professionals and enthusiasts to develop, download, review and publish open source software, much of which they use in their own organizations.  Approximately 80 percent of its roughly 40 million monthly unique visitors are outside the U.S.
  • Freecode, one of the largest indexes of Linux, Unix and cross-platform software, as well as mobile applications generates nearly 500,000 unique visitors each month.

USA, New York, NY & Canada, Fairfax, VA

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Nine Entertainment Co. is to sell ACP Magazines Ltd to Bauer Media Group

September 18, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Nine Entertainment Co. is to sell ACP Magazines Ltd to Bauer Media Group. The sale is expected to close in the next four to eight weeks. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ACP, which was established in 1933, is Australia and New Zealand’s largest magazine publisher, reaching over 15 million Australians each year. With leading magazine titles in almost every category, ACP’s major brands include The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, Cleo, Take 5, TV Week, Australian House & Garden, Gourmet Traveller and Zoo. ACP also operates a highly successful Trader and Custom business.

“The decision to sell the magazine business is not one we have made lightly. On balance however, the sale provides NEC with an attractive all cash valuation and ACP with the benefits of being part of a global publisher organisation. This sale will also allow us to focus on our core television and growing digital and events businesses.” said David Gyngell, Chief Executive Officer of NEC.

“We are delighted to welcome ACP as a member of the Bauer Media Group”, said publisher and owner Yvonne Bauer, “ACP fits our strategy of developing the Bauer Media Group globally, we believe in print, and ACP´s strong brands in Australia and New Zealand are perfect platforms to expand into digital areas.”

The impact of the sale on the operations of both NEC and ACP is expected to be minimal. Post completion, NEC and ACP will continue to work closely together in a number of areas including go to market strategies under the NEC operated “Powered” cross platform unit. Powered will continue to deliver ideas and insights utilising the breadth of media that the combined strength of NEC and ACP bring.

Matthew Stanton, CEO of ACP commented “Being part of the Bauer Media Group provides ACP with a positive and clear future, under an owner who is focussed on magazines and who will support investment and growth in our business. This outcome provides a commitment for the long term for both our brands and our people.”

About Nine Entertainment Co.Nine Entertainment Co. (NEC) is Australia’s most diversified media and entertainment group, a communication powerhouse delivering a world of media information and entertainment to millions of Australians. It’s assets include the Nine Network Australia, NBN Television, Australian News Channel, ACP Magazines, a 50% interest in Mi9, and entertainment entities, Ticketek and the Allphones Arena. Nine Entertainment Co. is owned by CVC Asia Pacific Limited.

Germany, Hamburg & Australia, Sydney & New Zealand, Auckland

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Shutterfly acquires Penguin Digital

September 18, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Online photo services company Shutterfly has acquired Penguin Digital, a mobile application developer that provides consumers with a way to create, share and purchase photo merchandise directly from their mobile devices.

Penguin Digital launched an iPhone app in January 2012 called Mobile Photo Factory or MoPho for short (www.mophoapp.com), which allows anyone to easily create physical prints and photo based merchandise such as iPhone & iPad cases, mugs, key chains, apparel, canvas prints and more. The MoPho application will be rebranded and updated over the next few months and will add to Shutterfly’s mobile offerings, which include the popular Shutterfly iPhone and iPad apps and the soon to be released Treat birthday card app. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Penguin Digital founders Reuven Moskowitz and Josh Friedman, along with the rest of the Penguin Digital team, will be establishing Shutterfly’s new technology centre in New York City.

“The acquisition of Penguin Digital supports our mobile strategy aimed at giving consumers better ways to engage with their photos and personalize products on the go,” said Jeffrey Housenbold, president and CEO of Shutterfly. “We believe it’s important to give consumers the choice and convenience of transforming their memories into high quality products and gifts from their PC, tablet and mobile phone. Our recent strategic acquisitions of Nexo, TinyPrints, Photoccino and now Penguin Digital combined with our continued investment in organic growth and innovation further enables us to fulfill our vision of making the world a better place by helping people share life’s joy.”

USA, Redwood City, CA

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Wilmington Group reports full year results for the year ended 30 June 2012

September 18, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Wilmington Group plc, the professional information and training group, has announced its results for the year ended 30 June 2012.

Highlights

  • Adjusted EBITA increased by 10.2% to £16.5m (2011: £14.9m)
  • Adjusted EBITA margins improved to 19.3% (2011:17.8%)
  • Adjusted Profit before Tax up 4.6% to £14.0 million (2011: £13.4 million) on revenues up 1.8% to £85.3m (2011: £83.8m): statutory profit before tax increased by 4.1% to £6.3m
  • Publishing & Information revenues from the higher margin online/digital business have increased to 76% (2011: 72%), with print decreasing to 11% (2011: 16%)
  • Continued strong cash generation, with 109% (2011: 111%) cash conversion of operating profit
  • Net debt £3.8m lower at £36.2m (2011: £40.0m)
  • Planned sale of surplus freehold property
  • Exited contract directory publishing
  • Proposed final dividend of 3.5 pence per share, making a full year maintained dividend of 7.0 pence per share

Mark Asplin, Chairman, commented: “As part of our transition to a higher margin better quality business, a number of major operational challenges have been successfully addressed during the year.  The result is a more streamlined, focussed and profitable business.

The legal training business is now more profitable and in better shape than it was twelve months ago, although market conditions affecting our client base remain difficult.  The phasing out of legacy publishing products will continue during the current year as the Group continues to invest in subscription based digital products and migrates its business away from print directories and services in which it does not own intellectual property. We expect the remainder of our core businesses to continue to show growth. We are also pleased with the progress we are making towards achieving our medium term financial targets.”

Full details of the results and an investors presentation are available here.

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Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting acquires the assets of BSI, a provider of international tax, legal, business and investment information

September 14, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting has acquired the assets of BSI, a provider of timely international tax, legal, business and investment information. BSI was founded in 1992 with headquarters in Hastings, U.K. The company will remain in the U.K. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. BSI will become part of CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business.

“Keeping current with complex and changing tax law is a challenge faced by professionals today across the globe, and with the addition of BSI’s premier content and coverage to CCH and Wolters Kluwer, we’re now uniquely able to help our customers overcome that challenge,” said Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting CEO Kevin Robert. “The best just got better. And, we’ll continue to invest in expanding our international corporate tax solutions to help professionals around the world.”

CCH will continue to deliver BSI’s services as distinct offerings under the CCH brand name. CCH also plans to enhance current BSI offerings, creating new products and building out integration between CCH and BSI content. BSI has been a Wolters Kluwer business partner since 2008.

USA, Riverwoods, IL & UK, Hastings, East Sussex

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SimpleTuition acquires ValoreBooks

September 14, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

SimpleTuition has acquired ValoreBooks, an online textbook marketplace which offers discounts on new and used textbooks as well as rentals.

“SimpleTuition is dedicated to helping students and their families afford the cost of college,” said Kevin Walker, co-founder and CEO of SimpleTuition. “When you think about where students spend their money, textbooks are a big expense. The team at ValoreBooks has built a tremendous marketplace that has some of the best textbook selection and prices available today. Additionally, they share our vision for helping students save by comparing their options. SimpleTuition has done it with student loans, and ValoreBooks has done it for new, used and rental textbooks. Bringing the two companies together is a natural fit and allows us to help over 10 million students and families a year.”

ValoreBooks was founded in 2002 and was an early pioneer in the online textbook market. It provides students with the low textbook prices by connecting them with sellers from all over the country. The ValoreBooks marketplace now boasts over 18 million titles from 20,000 sellers. Customers can easily compare prices on titles and even see new, used and rental options side-by-side.

USA, Boston, MA

 

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