McGraw-Hill completes the sale of McGraw-Hill Education to Apollo

March 22, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

McgrawhilleducationThe McGraw-Hill Companies has completed the sale of its McGraw-Hill Education business to investment funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC. The purchase price was $2.4 billion in cash.

Previous reporting.

The McGraw-Hill Companies will be renamed McGraw Hill Financial in the second quarter of this year and will focus on serving the global capital and commodity markets

The Company is using a portion of the approximately $1.9 billion in after tax proceeds from the sale to pay down short-term debt, in part driven by the special dividend paid in 2012, to resume share repurchases and to make selective tuck-in acquisitions.

“Consistent with our commitment to maximizing shareholder value, McGraw Hill Financial expects to continue to return cash to shareholders and to invest for growth,” said Harold McGraw III , Chairman, President and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies. “We have successfully completed our Growth and Value Plan, which had as its cornerstone the separation of our financial information and education businesses. The steps we have taken have unlocked value for shareholders, positioned the assets of McGraw-Hill Education for long-term success and accelerated the growth potential of the new McGraw Hill Financial.”

USA, New York, NY

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TripAdvisor acquires Tiny Post

March 22, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

tripadvisorTripAdvisor has acquired Tiny Post, an app that lets you write over photos and turn them into stories. The Tiny Post team will be based in TripAdvisor’s Palo Alto office. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The Tiny Post team have created a wonderful app that shows the possibilities of combining travel photos with social and mobile,” said Steve Kaufer , co-founder and CEO TripAdvisor, Inc. “We think Tiny Post is a great fit with our continued drive to provide engaging and sharable content and I am happy to welcome this strong team to TripAdvisor.”tiny-post-logo

USA, Newton, MA & Palo Alto, CA

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SFX to acquire dance music events producer ID&T

March 21, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

SFX Entertainment is to acquire ID&T, the producer of dance music festivals and events worldwide. The deal follows a previously announced joint venture between SFX and ID&T, which will bring ID&T events to North America. SFX is to acquire 75 percent of the company, which is valued at approximately $130 million.

Based in Amsterdam, ID&T is a privately held company that has produced events in Europe and around the world for more than 20 years, welcoming every type of dance music fan to indoor and outdoor events. Among the brands in the ID&T family are Sensation and Mysteryland. Sensation is an indoor house music brand, with events in 20 countries around the world. Mysteryland hosts 60,000 visitors in the Netherlands, 25,000 visitors in Santiago de Chile and will further expand worldwide the next few years.

“This is a hugely significant and strategically important acquisition for SFX,” said Robert F.X. Sillerman, Chairman and CEO of SFX Entertainment. “With ID&T, SFX has an immediate global footprint in more than 20 markets worldwide. ID&T productions are known for being of the highest quality and for producing maximum entertainment for their fans. Their exceptional team has developed amazing dance music brands with tremendous global reach.”

The acquisition of ID&T follows recent acquisitions by SFX of dance music brands Life In Color, Disco Donnie, Miami Marketing Group and Beatport.

USA, New York, NY & The Netherlands, Amsterdam

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WPP makes strategic investment in SFX Entertainment Posted on March 18, 2013

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Demand Media acquires Creativebug

March 19, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Demand MediaDemand Media has acquired Creativebug. Creativebug is a video art and craft instruction website. The acquisition will accelerate Demand Media’s expansion into e-Learning.

“We’re seeing a ‘disruption and reinvention’ in the way that people are learning new skills. They are increasingly going online to learn both practical and creative skills, and we believe this convergence has huge potential,” said Joanne Bradford, Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer, Demand Media. “Instead of browsing at a bookstore or attending a class at the local community college, people are going online to learn from a world-renowned expert at a time that fits their schedule, accessing online videos from their smartphone, tablet or desktop.”

“Creativebug masterfully leveraged the e-learning and craft trend in the emerging ‘Create it Yourself’ movement to become a leader in this market,” added Dan Brian, Executive Vice President of Media. “We’ve seen interest in craft-related content on eHow grow more than 20% on average every year over the last three years. We’re sprinting to keep up with demand, adding 29% more video content over the same period. Millions of people who visit eHow every month will be able to access Creativebug’s video workshops led by the top artists and designers in the world. We’re thrilled to add the passionate Creativebug team to the Demand Media family.”

USA, Santa Monica, CA

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PennWell acquires the Oil & Gas Pipeline Conference from Willbros Engineers

March 18, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

PennwellPennWell Corporation has acquired the Oil & Gas Pipeline Conference from Willbros Engineers and entered into an agreement with the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) to produce the annual conference and exhibition. The 22nd annual Oil & Gas Pipeline Conference will be held October 28-30, 2013 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Houston. Terms of the agreements with Willbros and GITA were not disclosed.

GITA founded the Oil & Gas Pipeline Conference in 1991 and developed the conference into an important technical event for the oil and gas pipeline sector. For the October 2012 Oil & Gas Pipeline Conference, GITA partnered with Willbros Engineers to conduct the event as GITA completed its transition to an all-volunteer organisation. Over 350 industry professionals attended the October 2012 Oil & Gas Pipeline Conference in Houston, which also had 55 exhibitors and sponsors. The annual event includes multiple conferences and networking sessions.

Robert F. Biolchini , president and CEO of PennWell, said, “We are enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with GITA with the goal of rapidly accelerating the growth of the Oil & Gas Pipeline Conference and we also look forward to the ongoing support of Willbros and other sponsors of the event. The pipeline and transportation sectors of the industry are experiencing phenomenal growth due to the resurgence of exploration and drilling in North America, and we intend to leverage PennWell’s publishing assets and event expertise of our editorial staff of the Oil & Gas Journal, Offshore, and Oil & Gas Financial Journal in a close collaboration with GITA to expand the conference and preserve the standard of quality in conference content established by GITA over the last 21 years.”

PennWell’s portfolio of conferences and exhibitions also includes Deep Offshore Technology (DOT), Offshore Middle East, Offshore Asia, Offshore West Africa, PetroWorld India, and Oil Sands Heavy Oil Technologies in Canada. PennWell publishes Oil & Gas Journal.

Tulsa, OK

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WPP makes strategic investment in SFX Entertainment

March 18, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

wppWPP has made a strategic investment in SFX Entertainment, Inc., a digital media company described as a global platform for electronic dance music events.

Based in New York City, SFX was founded by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert F. X. Sillerman in 2011. Sillerman and his senior management team average over 30 years’ experience in entertainment and music-related businesses, including acquiring and consolidating companies that specialise in producing and promoting live events.

SFX has created a global platform for dance music through acquisition and partnership with some of the leading festivals, events, clubs and online brands. It has a collective audience of over 100 million connected, highly mobile music fans through its various properties which include: Beatport, ID&T North America (Sensation and Mysteryland), Life In Color, Disco Donnie Presents and Miami Marketing Group, home of LIV, Story and Arkadia.

WPP Chief Executive Sir Martin Sorrell said, “We recognize the value in what SFX is creating and believe we can help bring this valuable audience to our agencies’ global clients. The challenge of navigating through digital and social media is daunting for clients and we believe this partnership can further develop WPP’s content capabilities, particularly in new media in the youth consumer segment.”

UK, London & USA, New York, NY

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Maxim up for sale

March 15, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Alpha Media Group has put Maxim up for sale.

“Maxim constantly evaluates its position in the market and has decided now is the optimal time to entertain strategic relationships and offers. The brand will only consider offers that are meaningful and beneficial to both the brand and its investors.”

Maxim was founded in the UK by Felix Dennis, and became hugely successful in the the US.Maxim was so successful upon its arrival in the U.S. It still has a circulation of 2 million. Dennis sold Maxim for $250 million to a management team backed by the Quadrangle Group. After Quadrangle defaulted on its debts, Cerberus Capital Partners took over the title in 2009. Staff numbers have been reduced and the business is said to be financially sound.

Alpha Media Group Inc. was formerly known as Dennis Publishing, Inc. It changed its name to Alpha Media Group Inc. in August 2007.

New York, NY

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ePublishing acquires B2B Audience Network

March 14, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

ePublishing has acquired B2B Audience Network. A business-to–business advertising network, B2B Audience reaches more than 300 online publications for clients including UBM, Cygnus, and GIE.

Andy Kowl, founder of B2B Audience Network, will be joining ePublishing as Senior Vice President of Publishing Strategy.

“We have always focused on maximizing publishers’ revenue by increasing reader engagement and enabling them to monetize it at every level,” said Thomas Chaffee , CEO of ePublishing. “Adding another contextual revenue opportunity for the hundreds of B2B titles powered by our EPS benefits both our clients and their customers.” In 2012, ePublishing acquired Ellington CMS and Marketplace software and 330 news websites from The World Company.

USA, Chicago, IL

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Complex Media acquires Sole Collector

March 14, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Complex Media has acquired Sole Collector expanding the company’s network of owned and operated sites. Sole Collector’s GM Steve Mullholand , along with his 10-person team, will join Complex Media. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Sole Collector was founded 10 years ago by Steve Mullholand, and is based in Portland, Oregon. The site has 4.4 million unique monthly visitors and an online sneaker forum, with over 385,000 members. Sole Collector offers a sneaker database with over 15,000 listings, each quarter publishes Sole Collector print magazine and each month publishes Sole magazine on iPad.

“We’re thrilled to acquire Sole Collector and to bring on its talented team. They’ve created a uniquely successful destination for sneaker-obsessed males – some of the most discerning lifestyle consumers anywhere,” said Rich Antoniello , CEO of Complex Media. “With its authentic voice, enormous and constantly updated database, and loyal and engaged users, Sole Collector is exactly the kind of property we’re looking to add to our expanding collective of sites that define and influence youth culture. This is just the beginning of our aggressive and strategic expansion plan for 2013.”

USA, New York, NY & Portland, Oregon

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RetailMeNot acquires Dutch online coupon site Actiepagina.nl

March 13, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

RetailMeNot, Inc., a marketplace for online coupons and deals, has acquired Actiepagina.nl, a publisher of online coupons in the Netherlands. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

RetailMeNot, Inc.’s existing portfolio of European websites also includes VoucherCodes.co.uk (www.vouchercodes.co.uk) in the U.K.; Bons-de-Reduction (web.bons-de-reduction.com) and cash-back website Poulpeo (poulpeo.com) in France; and Deals.com (www.deals.com) in Germany. In North America, RetailMeNot, Inc. also operates Deals2Buy (www.deals2buy.com) and RetailMeNot (www.retailmenot.com), the most widely used online coupon site in the United States.

Maurice Buijs , who founded of Actiepagina in 2005, will continue to serve as general manager of RetailMeNot, Inc.’s Dutch operations. The transaction includes transitioning all existing full-time staff to RetailMeNot, Inc. employees, bringing RetailMeNot, Inc.’s total global headcount to approximately 330 employees.

“In addition to our two websites in North America, the acquisition of Actiepagina.nl puts us in our fourth country in Europe,” said Cotter Cunningham, Founder & CEO, RetailMeNot, Inc. “I look forward to working with Maurice and our new team in the Netherlands so we can show more Dutch consumers how easy it is to save money while shopping online, and help our merchant partners grow their business.”

USA, Austin, TX & The Netherlands

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