Amazon Publishing to acquire Marshall Cavendish US Children’s Books Titles

December 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Amazon.com has signed a deal to acquire over 450 titles of Marshall Cavendish’s US Children’s trade books business, Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books (MCCB).

The list from Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books has been nominated for more than 150 industry awards and includes a diverse range of titles including “The Night Before Christmas” illustrated by Gennady Spirin, “Three Little Tamales” by Eric A. Kimmel, “Chalk” by Bill Thomson and “Yellow Star” by Jennifer Roy, as well as the National Book Award finalist “My Name is Not Easy” by Debby Dahl Edwardson. The acquisition creates the foundation for Amazon Publishing to further expand into picture books, chapter books and Young Adult novels.

“We’re excited to acquire the Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books titles and expand our publishing business in this area,” said Jeff Belle, Vice President, Amazon Publishing. “We believe the children’s book market segment presents a unique opportunity to innovate in both print and digital formats. And since many of these titles are not readily available as eBooks, we see a chance to connect a terrific group of authors and illustrators with more readers. We also see the potential for similar deals across other categories in the future.”

Marshall Cavendish was advised by Robin Warner, Atwood Capital Partners.

USA, Seattle & Tarrytown, NY

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TheDirectory.com Acquires BusinessList.com

November 28, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

TheDirectory.com has acquired the website www.BusinessList.com in a cash and debt transaction, no common or preferred shares were issued.

TheDirectory.com Founder and CEO Scott Gallagher commented, “We’re very excited to have acquired the website and business ofwww.BusinessList.com. The acquisition is strategic in nature, and immediately helps us on several fronts relating to the launch of version 2.0 ofwww.TheDirectory.com. Additionally the acquisition is immediately accretive to earnings and opens several new revenue channels for us.” Gallagher continued, “Managing Local business listings across the Internet is a major challenge for small business owners. Our recent partnerships coupled with this acquisition will make our network the leading destination for small businesses to control and manage their Local business listing information on over 100 of the most trafficked websites on the Internet, including all 3 major search engines. This is a multi-million dollar opportunity that we have not previously been involved in.”

USA, Tampa, CA

 

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Microsoft acquires video discovery technology company VideoSurf

November 22, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Microsoft Corp. has acquired California-based video discovery technology company VideoSurf Inc.

Founded in 2006, VideoSurf offers a back-end computer vision technology that “sees” frames inside videos to make discovering content fast, easy and accurate. Over time, Microsoft will integrate this technology across its entertainment platform to augment the Xbox 360 ecosystem and evolve search and discovery of entertainment content on Xbox LIVE.

“VideoSurf’s content analytics technology will enhance the search and discovery of entertainment content across our platform,” said Alex Garden, director of Xbox LIVE for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “This holiday we will launch voice search across our entertainment partners on Xbox LIVE. Over time, as we integrate VideoSurf’s technology into our system, we are excited about the potential to have content tagged in real time to increase the speed and relevance of the search results.”

“Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Division is at the leading edge of connected entertainment,” said Lior Delgo, CEO and co-founder of VideoSurf. “We are incredibly excited to be working together on our mutual passion for creating amazing consumer experiences and reinventing how consumers search, discover and enjoy content on their televisions.”

In the coming months, Microsoft will bring nearly 40 world-leading TV and entertainment providers to Xbox LIVE, includingBravo, Comcast, HBO GO, Verizon FiOS and Syfy in the U.S.; BBC in the U.K.; Telefonica in Spain; Rogers On Demand inCanada; Televisa in Mexico; ZDF in Germany; and Mediaset in Italy. This acquisition will also make it easier for world-class video partners to take full advantage of advanced features such as voice search enabled by Kinect for Xbox 360. With Kinect, users will be able to easily search and discover content across multiple entertainment providers within Xbox LIVE and then interact with and enjoy content in extraordinary ways using voice search powered by Bing on the Xbox 360.

USA, Redmond, WA & San Mateo, CA

 

 

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MyHeritage acquires FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com to Enter US Market

November 22, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

MyHeritage has acquired FamilyLink.com, maker of the family history content sites FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com. This is MyHeritage’s seventh and largest acquisition since 2007. The purchase marks a significant move into the US market commercially and operationally, and will boost MyHeritage’s offering to families with the addition of a vast database of several billion historical records. With offices and staff in Europe, Australia and Israel, MyHeritage will now be adding its first US-based office in Utah.

“We are delighted to join forces with the talented FamilyLink team in Provo to deliver meaningful value to families across the world,” says MyHeritage CEO and Founder Gilad Japhet. “Combining close to one billion family tree profiles on MyHeritage with FamilyLink’s massive library of historical data delivers a perfect one-stop-shop for families looking to discover and share their family history”.

Founded in 2006, both FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com are subscription services which provide access to a database of historical content, covering several billion individuals within census, birth, marriage and death records, as well as the web’s largest archive of historical newspapers.

This is the latest in a series of purchases by MyHeritage since 2007 which have included Pearl Street Software, makers of GenCircles.com and the Family Tree Legends software; free family tree backup service BackupMyTree.com; European family social network market leader OSN (Verwandt) GmbH; Dutch family network ZOOOF; British family network Kindo.com and Polish family network Bliscy.pl.

The majority of the FamilyLink.com employees will join MyHeritage, based out of the company’s new US office in Provo, Utah. The CEO of FamilyLink.com, Paul Brockbank will support the transition over the coming months and will later join the MyHeritage advisory board. FamilyLink.com founder Paul Allen will not be part of the merger with MyHeritage.

In the short-term, MyHeritage will continue to operate the two sites FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com, with the intention of achieving full integration within MyHeritage in 2012.

USA, Provo, UT & UK, London & Israel, Tel Aviv

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Ebix acquires online health exchange HealthConnect Systems

November 19, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Ebix, a supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance industry, today announced that it has acquired Connecticut based HealthConnect Systems, an online Exchange for buyers and sellers of health insurance and employee benefits. Ebix also announced that HealthConnect would be immediately integrated into its EbixHealth Division.

Ebix expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to Ebix Earnings per Share (EPS). Ebix disclosed that it funded this transaction completely in cash using its bank debt line. No Ebix shares were issued and no investment bankers were involved in the transaction.

Ebix Chairman of the Board, President & CEO Robin Raina said, “Ebix has always been focused on providing end-to-end solutions in every industry segment. With the acquisition of HealthConnect, Ebix now is the only Company in the industry who can take a health insurance transaction across diverse entities like Employers, Brokers, General Agents, Third Party Administrators, Insurance Companies etc. while providing a wide variety of services like CRM, enrollment, online quoting, benefit portals, content management, claims handling, claims accounting, claims adjudication, COBRA, FSA administration to these entities.”

“The HealthConnect online quoting solution and network provides us the missing piece in our Health product portfolio. It brings in top rated insurance companies like Aetna and Horizon to Ebix, providing both sides an opportunity to cross-sell complementary services to each other’s client base.” Robin Raina added, “With 85% plus recurring revenue streams, good history of profitability, consistent margins, low customer attrition rates, proven management record, complimentary technologies and SaaS based architecture, HealthConnect met all the criteria of a good acquisition target for Ebix. This deal is a strategic step forward to establish Ebix as a Health Information Exchange and is likely to be followed by other strategic steps in coming months and years.”

USA, Atlanta, GA

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The Walt Disney Company acquires online parenting platform Babble Media

November 19, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

The Walt Disney Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary Disney Online, has acquired Babble Media, an online parenting platform featuring more than 200 influential “mom bloggers”. The acquisition of Babble further strengthens the position of Disney Interactive Media Group’s Mothers and Family portfolio as a leading online resource for mothers and families. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Babble was founded in 2006. Its stable of bloggers contribute daily to parenting topics including pregnancy, child care, health, food, family activities as well as lifestyle topics such as home, fashion and family products. Babble attracts a broad and engaged audience with its nearly constant stream of posts, written for and by mothers.

“Parents’ relationships with Disney are founded in stories, and Disney’s best stories are about families. We believe that Babble and Disney can harness the power of storytelling to inform, entertain and empower parents everywhere,” said Brooke Chaffin, SVP of Moms and Family, Disney Interactive Media Group. “With more than 3.9 million mom blogs in the US alone, Disney Interactive recognises and values the important and powerful role moms have taken on in new media.”

Babble will remain headquartered in New York. Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman will join the Disney Interactive Media Group.

USA, Burbank, CA

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Moody’s Corporation acquires majority stake in Copal Partners

November 19, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Moody’s Corporation has acquired a majority stake in the companies of Copal Partners. Copal’s companies are among the world’s leading providers of outsourced research and analytical services to institutional customers. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Copal’s analytical resources support front-line professionals at financial institutions and corporate enterprises worldwide. With expertise in a wide range of disciplines, including financial modeling, industry and company research, capital structure analysis and market surveys, Copal deploys a flexible staffing model to meet the specific requirements of its customers.

“Copal is highly regarded in the global financial services industry as a leader in high quality research and analytical services for bankers, financial analysts and institutional investors,” said Mark Almeida, President of Moody’s Analytics. “This acquisition extends Moody’s Analytics’ capabilities, enabling us to better help financial institutions manage risk. In addition, Copal’s expertise and resources will allow us to accelerate innovation across Moody’s Analytics.”

The acquisitions do not alter Moody’s 2011 earnings per share (EPS) guidance, and are expected to be accretive to Moody’s EPS in 2012. Moody’s funded the purchases from cash on hand.

Moody’s was advised on the transaction by Citi and Slaughter and May. Copal Partners was advised by Centerview Partners and Macquarie Capital. Proskauer Rose served as legal advisors for Copal.

USA, New York, NY

 

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Vivendi and Universal Music Group to acquire EMI Music

November 19, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Vivendi and its subsidiary, Universal Music Group have agreed to purchase EMI’s recorded music division from Citigroup for a total consideration of £1.2 billion representing 7 x EBITDA prior to synergies.

EMI Group is one of the world’s most prominent music companies. Its recorded music division, EMI Music, operates around the world and represents artists spanning all musical tastes and genres through record labels including Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Latin, Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI Records Nashville, Manhattan, Parlophone, Virgin Classics and Virgin Records.

Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO of Vivendi, stated: “We are very proud to welcome EMI into the Vivendi family. We all respect the labels within EMI as well as the artists and employees who contribute to its success. They will find within our Group a safe, long-term home, headquartered in Europe.” He then added: “We plan to acquire EMI’s recorded music division on attractive terms, adhering to our principle of total financial discipline. We are confident that we will be able to create additional value for our shareholders thanks to our knowledge of the industry and our proven track record of successful integration. Lucian Grainge’s personal experience and heritage will be a major asset in making the combined entity a great success.”

Lucian Grainge, Chairman & CEO of Universal Music Group, added: “This is a historic acquisition for UMG and an important step in preserving the legacy of EMI Music. For me, as an Englishman, EMI was the preeminent music company that I grew up with. Its artists and their music provided the soundtrack to my teenage years. Therefore, UMG is committed to both preserving EMI’s cultural heritage and artistic diversity and also investing in its artists and people to grow the company’s assets for the future. As a result, we will be better positioned to fully capitalise on the many new and exciting opportunities in the current marketplace, and also able to better serve our artists, songwriters and business partners, while offering fans even more choice.”

Vivendi will finance the transaction from its existing credit lines. Concurrently, Vivendi and UMG will also sell 500 million euros worth of non-core UMG assets.

Vivendi and UMG have been advised by Allen & Co. and SJ Berwin on this transaction. Citi Global Banking acted as financial advisor to Citi and EMI. Clifford Chance LLP, Shearman & Sterling LLP and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP acted as legal advisors to Citi and EMI.

UK, London & France, Paris & USA, New York, NY

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UBM TechWeb acquires Online Marketing Summit

November 19, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

UBM TechWeb has acquired digital marketing event Online Marketing Summit.

“We are delighted to add Online Marketing Summit to UBM’s portfolio of global digital marketing brands and services, which include Technology for Marketing and Advertising in India, China and the UK, Internet World in the UK, and E-Commerce Expo in the UK,” said Kathy Astromoff, UBM TechWeb Executive Vice President and Group General Manager. “This acquisition also accelerates our mission of delivering high quality content and Marketing-as-a-Service for digital marketers and marketing tools, applications and service providers worldwide.”

Online Marketing Summit is taking place February 6-10, 2012 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. Online Marketing Summit focuses on empowering a global community to learn and share best practices in digital marketing. The event features over 100 sessions and case studies, an Expo show floor, a full day Online Marketing Boot Camp, rich networking opportunities and influential speakers including executives, authors, marketers and social media experts at Adobe, Best Buy, Bing, Cisco, Dell, DuPont, Eloqua, GM, Google, HP,IBM,  Intel, SAP, Salesforce, SEOmoz and more. Topics to be covered include: social media, mobile marketing, search, email, marketing automation and more.

Online Marketing Summit was acquired by UBM TechWeb, while the Online Marketing Institute will continue to run independently. Aaron Kahlow will continue to serve as the Conference Director for Online Marketing Summit focusing on content programming and sales and marketing partnerships.

USA, San Francisco, CA

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BlueStar Energy Solutions acquires TruBrite Energy Management

November 19, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

BlueStar Energy Solutions has acquired TruBrite Energy Management.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“This acquisition brings together BlueStar’s and TruBrite’s energy management expertise to meet businesses’ needs with energy efficiency projects that deliver savings and environmental benefits,” said Troy Hammond, President of Demand Side Management for BlueStar. “Working with the TruBrite team as our West Coast office, we can more effectively conduct facility audits and perform installations nationally.”

The acquisition builds upon BlueStar’s energy management offerings, which includes lighting controls, design and retrofits, energy monitoring and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) controls.

Based in California, TruBrite provides energy-efficient solutions for national business chains, commercial customers, schools and municipalities. TruBrite works with major utility energy efficiency programs to install state-of-the-art energy-efficient lighting and control systems to lower customers’ energy usage and reduce their energy costs. TruBrite has been the preferred supplier on more than 30,000 energy management projects.  In so doing, it has built an enviable reputation in California and nationally for cost effectiveness and quality and its brand name will continue to be used for BlueStar’s West Coast operations.

Guy Morgan, CEO of BlueStar, said, “With BlueStar’s dual role as a retail electric supplier and energy efficiency advisor, we are equipped to provide businesses with the necessary insights and innovations to get the most value out of their energy management programs.”

USA, Chicago, IL & Marysville, CA

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