RapidBuyr acquires BizDeals.com

November 19, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

RapidBuyr, the daily deal site catering exclusively to small and mid-sized businesses with discounts on B2B products and services, has acquired Los Angeles-based B2B weekly deal site BizDeals.com.

This acquisition adds hundreds of new national sellers to the RapidBuyr network, enhances the company’s business services category and expands the RapidBuyr customer base, community, social assets and distribution footprint.

“We are thrilled to welcome BizDeals and its member network into the growing RapidBuyr community,” said RapidBuyr co-founder and chief marketing officer Darr Aley.

USA, Concord, MA & Los Angeles, CA

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Skimlinks Raises $4.5 Million Series B Round

November 11, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Skimlinks, an in-text monetization platform for Web publishers, has raised $4.5 million in Series B funding. Led by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI), the new investment will help continue Skimlinks’ growth in existing and new vertical markets within the United States and around the globe. It will also finance product research and development.

The new funding round continues Skimlinks’ strong investor momentum, bringing its total investments to $7.5 million to-date. In addition to BDMI, new investors 500startups and Venrex Investment Management and existing investors – Sussex Place Ventures, The Accelerator Group, and NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) – also contributed to the latest funding round.

“We chose BDMI to lead this round because of its stellar experience in both online publishing and advertising,” said Alicia Navarro, CEO of Skimlinks. “We’re delighted that all of our investors continue to believe in the value Skimlinks delivers, and we look forward to using this investment to continue our rapid expansion throughout Europe and the United States.”

“We are excited to be investing in Skimlinks. The team is energetic and inventive, and the space is open for technical innovation,” said Urs Cete, managing director of BDMI, who will be joining the Skimlinks Board.

USA, San Francisco, CA & UK, London

 

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Serious Energy acquires building energy management technology company Agilewaves

November 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Energy efficiency solutions business Serious Energy has acquired Agilewaves, a building energy management technology company.

Agilewaves is a building energy management system firm based in Menlo Park, CA. The firm’s Building Optimization System is a turnkey energy monitoring and resource management system that provides facility managers and building owners with real-time, actionable information to effectively optimize building performance. The BOS system solution provides the rigorous metrics needed to increase energy efficiency, reduce energy costs and meet the persistent monitoring requirements for commissioning projects. The engineering and capabilities of the Building Optimization System will be integrated with those of Serious Energy’s SaaS energy efficiency platform .

“We are developing and deploying the most innovative solutions in the industry that make building operations and efficiency better, cheaper, and faster,” says Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Energy, Inc. “We are excited to integrate the customers, team, and world-class partners and technologies of Agilewaves into our comprehensive building upgrade solutions for our collective customer base.”

USA, Sunnyvale, CA & Menlo Park, CA

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RLJ Equity Partners acquires Media Source

November 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

RLJ Equity Partners has acquired Media Source, the parent company of three businesses that promote and sell children’s books and a variety of services and products geared toward the library industry, including book collection development, magazine subscriptions, book reviews, websites, webinars, and conferences. RLJ Equity Partners, LLC was joined by 21st Century Group, LLC and New Canaan Funding Mezzanine, LLC in the transaction.

“We believe MSI is a very important company in terms of its contributions to improving library systems and public school systems,” said Robert L. Johnson, founder of The RLJ Companies and chairman of RLJ Equity Partners. “We are pleased to own a company that is a trusted resource for librarians and school systems across the country and look forward to expanding in metropolitan markets domestically and internationally,” he concluded.

Media Source is the leading provider of information content and editorial book reviews for academic, public, and school librarians serving tens of thousands of libraries and more than 100,000 librarians. MSI’s Junior Library Guild division reviews thousands of new children’s books each year and selects the best titles in more than 40 different categories. Its School Library Journal, Library Journal, and Horn Book divisions provide critical information and reviews to the library market via digital and print media products.

USA, Bethesda, MD

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The E.W. Scripps Company third quarter results

November 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Consolidated revenues from continuing operations were $168 million, a decrease of 8.6 percent from $184 million in the third quarter of 2010.

Operating expenses totalled $165 million, down 4.9 percent from the second quarter, and down 2.3 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. Restructuring costs, largely for the ongoing efforts to standardise and centralise certain functions that should benefit the newspaper division starting in 2012, were $2.6 million.

The third quarter results include a non-cash charge for the impairment of long-lived assets at four of the company’s newspapers. The company concluded that the fair value of certain of its newspapers was less than the carrying value of its net assets. Scripps recorded in the third quarter a $9 million, pre-tax, non-cash charge to reduce the carrying value of property and equipment.

Largely due to the impairment charge, the company reported an $18.2 million loss from continuing operations before income taxes, compared with what was essentially a break-even quarter a year ago.

The loss from continuing operations, net of tax, was $10.7 million, or 19 cents per share in the 2011 quarter, compared with income from continuing operations, net of tax, of $5.4 million, or 8 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding the effect of the impairment charge, the loss from continuing operations, net of tax, would have been 9 cents per share in the most-recent quarter.

The tax provisions in the third quarter of both 2011 and 2010 include the impact of favourable settlements of the examinations of prior-year tax returns.

“We continue to reshape Scripps, improving the company’s short-term and long-term opportunities for growth,” said Rich Boehne, Scripps president and CEO. “We believe local TV stations are both good businesses today and attractive launching pads for the future, which is why during the quarter we agreed to purchase the nine stations now owned by McGraw-Hill Broadcasting. At a purchase price of $212 million, we should show a strong return on investment and gain access to TV and digital media consumers and advertisers in Indianapolis, Denver and San Diego. Plus we picked up a great small-market station in Bakersfield, Calif., and access to the developing Spanish-language market through five Azteca stations in Colorado and California. We’re eager to close the deal and bring these businesses into the Scripps fold.

USA, Cincinnati, OH

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Demand Media reports third quarter 2011 financial results

November 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Content and social media company Demand Media has reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2011.

Financial Summary

GAAP

  • Revenue increased 25% to $81.5 million, compared with $65.4 million in Q310.
  • Loss from operations of $(3.3) million compared with income from operations of $0.9 million in Q310.
  • Net loss of $(4.1) million compared with a net loss of $(0.3) million in Q310. Net loss per share of $(0.05) compared with $(0.64) in Q310.
  • Cash flow from operations grew 36% to $22.1 million, from $16.3 million in Q310.

Non-GAAP (see the full statement Non-GAAP measures)

  • Revenue ex-TAC increased 26% to $78.1 million, from $62.2 million in Q310.
  • Adjusted OIBDA grew 33% to $21.7 million, or 27.7% of Revenue ex-TAC, compared with $16.3 million, or 26.2% of Revenue ex-TAC, in Q310.
  • Adjusted Net Income of $5.0 million increased 12% compared with $4.5 million in Q310. Adjusted Net Income per share – diluted of $0.06, grew 20% compared with $0.05 in Q310.
  • Discretionary Free Cash Flow increased 116% to $19.9 million compared with $9.2 million in Q310.
  • Free Cash Flow of $6.0 million compared with $(4.0) million in Q310.

“We reported another strong quarter as we continue to build Demand Media’s foundation for long-term growth,” said Richard Rosenblatt, Chairman and CEO of Demand Media. “The Company is uniquely positioned to deliver data-driven professional content through its robust content publishing platform. We are now in the process of optimizing that platform while increasing our investment in video content and enhancing the quality, engagement and user experience of our sites.”

  • Content & Media Revenue increased 27% to $50.7 million, compared with $39.8 million in Q310.
  • Traffic acquisition costs (TAC), which represent the portion of Content & Media revenue shared with Demand Media partners, of $3.4 million, or 6.7% of Content & Media revenue, compared with $3.2 million, or 7.9% of Content & Media revenue, in Q310.
  • Content & Media Revenue ex-TAC grew 29% to $47.4 million, from $36.7 million in Q310.
  • Registrar Revenue increased 20% to $30.7 million compared with $25.5 million in Q310.
  • Investment in Intangible Assets of $13.9 million increased 5% from $13.3 million in Q310.
Read the full statement here
USA, Santa Monica, CA
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Rakuten to Acquire Kobo US$315 million in cash

November 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Rakuten is to acquire Kobo for US$315 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2012.

Kobo was founded by and spun out of Indigo, the largest book, gift and specialty toy retailer in Canada, in December, 2009. Since that time, Kobo has become a fierce competitor in the eBook marketplace, with a family of innovative eReaders, a wide range of eReading apps, one of the largest eBook catalogues, an innovative social platform and retail partners around the globe.

The acquisition marks a major step forward for Rakuten, one of the world’s top 3 e-commerce companies by revenue, as it continues to expand its B2B2C borderless e-commerce business globally, by adding an ecosystem to provide downloadable media products to consumers, starting with eBooks.

Hiroshi Mikitani, Chairman and CEO of Rakuten, commented on the acquisition, “We are very excited about this next step. Kobo provides one of the world’s most communal eBook reading experiences with its innovative integration of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter; while Rakuten offers Kobo unparalleled opportunities to extend its reach through some of the world’s largest regional e-commerce companies.

Upon closing the acquisition, Kobo will continue to maintain its headquarters, management team and employees based in Toronto, Ontario.

Japan, Tokyo & Canada, Toronto

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Groupon’s IPO – what the commentators say

November 7, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

On Friday Groupon raised $700 million after offering 35 million shares at $20 per share, the largest IPO by an Internet company since Google raised $1.7 billion in 2004. The company’s share prices closed at $26.11, up 30.55 percent.

Here is what is being said about the IPO.

USA, Chicago, IL

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Yahoo! to acquire interclick

November 7, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Yahoo! is to acquire interclick. Yahoo! will acquire data targeting capabilities, optimisation technologies and new premium supply, as well as a team experienced in selling audiences across disparate sources of pooled supply. Under the terms of the agreement, Yahoo! will commence an all cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of common stock of interclick at $9.00 per share. The transaction has an estimated total equity value of approximately $270 million. The companies expect the tender offer to close by early 2012.

interclick, headquartered in New York, was founded in 2006 and became a NASDAQ-listed company in 2009. Powered by OSM, interclick offers proprietary data-valuation capabilities combining analytical expertise and media fulfilment to help marketers navigate the complex data ecosystem to drive successful online display and video campaigns. OSM is a powerful solution which aggregates and organises billions of data points from 3rd party providers – delivering actionable consumer insights, scalable audiences and the most effective campaign execution.

“This investment underscores our focus on enhancing the performance of both our guaranteed and non-guaranteed display business across Yahoo and our partner sites and, combined with Yahoo!’s reach and advertising leadership, will deliver a powerful solution for marketers,” said Ross Levinsohn, EVP, Americas region. “interclick’s innovative platform will allow Yahoo! to expand its targeting and data capabilities to deliver campaigns with stronger performance metrics.”

“We believe that this is a great outcome for our shareholders,” said Michael Brauser, interclick Co-Chairman of the Board. “Michael Katz and his team have done a tremendous job over the past few years and I’m proud to have helped make this outcome a reality.”

GCA Savvian Advisors, LLC acted as the lead financial advisor to interclick in connection with the transaction.

USA, Sunnydale, CA & New York, NY

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Matchbin acquires NAVTEQ Broadcast Media Division to Form Radiate Media

November 2, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Matchbin has closed its first institutional equity financing led by New York-based growth equity investor Level Equity. Greycroft Partners and vSpring Capital are co-investors in the $10 million round.

Simultaneously, the business acquired NAVTEQ Media Solution’s Radio and Television Group, closing a $12 million credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank. The combined company, which will be named Radiate Media. provides localised content, digital content management solutions and an advertising platform to over 6,000 local and national advertisers through its network of over 2,000 media partners.

Chris Rothey, who founded and took Traffic.com public before being acquired by NAVTEQ in 2007, has joined Radiate Media as CEO. “Technology and evolving content distribution models continue to rapidly change the way advertisers, large and small, promote themselves in a quantifiable fashion,” said Rothey. “Our collective offering will help our media partners leverage their strong and enduring relationships with local businesses to provide both today’s and tomorrow’s performance advertising solutions.”

“We are excited to back Chris Rothey in the creation of Radiate Media. Their business model, scale and deep technology is unique in the local advertising space,” said Ben Levin, partner at Level Equity. “We are attracted to businesses that are changing the way business is done in large and evolving markets. Radiate has cracked the code on how to enable the massive base of incumbent media properties to access the shift in spend to measurable and locally delivered advertising solutions. Chris is a world-class executive who has over a decade of experience providing local and mobile products. The opportunity to sponsor the acquisition of a highly valuable asset he founded over a decade ago and integrate it with a technologically innovative and rapidly growing local advertising business is compelling.”

USA, Salt Lake City, UT & Malvern, PA

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