UBM plc sells Property Week to Metropolis and UBM Channel to The Channel Company

September 27, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

UBM

UBM has agreed to sell its Property Week print magazine and related products to Metropolis International. Property Week’s 35 staff will transfer to Metropolis International following completion. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

metropolisUBM has also sold its North American IT channel business to a management-led investment group. The new company, called The Channel Company, will own and operate all of the businesses and products formerly owned by UBM Tech (Channel) in North America. The Comdex brand and UBM India’s CRN business are excluded from this transaction. UBM has retained a 30% minority equity interest in the business.

These disposals constitute the bulk of the operations treated as discontinued in UBM’s H1 2013 results and classified as held for sale at 30 June 2013. The combined cash proceeds from these disposals are approximately £8.5m, subject to working capital adjustments on completion.

UK, London & USA, San Francisco, CA

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AOL completes acquisition of Adap.tv

September 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

aolAOL Inc. has completed its acquisition of Adap.tv, a global, programmatic video advertising platform for the world’s largest brands, agencies, and publishers. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Adap.tv is a global programmatic video technology stack across all screens and will operate independently as part of AOL’s video organisation. It will be included as part of the overall solution offered by AOL Networks to publishers, advertisers and agencies.

adapt“With the addition of Adap.tv, AOL’s leadership position in digital video is further solidified,” said Tim Armstrong, Chairman and CEO of AOL. “AOL is well positioned to capitalize on two clear trends in the video space – the movement of advertising dollars from linear to online video and the shift from manual transactions to programmatic media buying. We welcome Adap.tv and its extremely talented employees to the AOL team.”

USA, New York, NY

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Elsevier acquires certain book assets of Gulf Publishing Company

August 8, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

elsevierElsevier has acquired certain book assets of Gulf Publishing Company. The portfolio of 32 books includes petroleum engineering titles in drilling, pipeline, oil and gas, and safety.

The GPC titles are for professionals in upstream oil and gas engineering and cover drilling, recovery methods, reservoir management, processing, and pipeline transmission. They include the Gulf Drilling Series, which emphasizes current techniques and technologies in the drilling industry; handbooks in oil and natural gas engineering; books on enhanced and non-conventional recovery techniques, including the high interest area of hydraulic fracturing (fracking); and data handbooks useful as reference sources for researchers and applied engineers working with the physical and chemical properties of hydrocarbons.

“The acquisition of the Gulf titles expands Elsevier’s petroleum engineering offering, positioning Elsevier as the leading book publisher for the oil and gas industry,” said Suzanne BeDell, Managing Director, Science & Technology Books, Elsevier. “The titles are of high-quality and complement our existing energy and fuel list, which is a benefit for corporate and academic customers using our ScienceDirect platform.”

All of the GPC books will be available through the Elsevier Store and on ScienceDirect, a full-text scientific database offering journal articles and book chapters from more than 2,500 peer-reviewed journals and more than 11,000 books. Many of the titles are also available on Knovel, a web-based application integrating technical information with analytical and search tools to deliver answers engineers can trust.

The Netherlands, Amsterdam & USA, Waltham, MA

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Hasbro acquires a majority interest in mobile games company Backflip Studios

July 9, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

hasbroToy maker Hasbro has acquired a majority stake in Backflip Studios. The Boulder, Colorado based company develops some of the mobile industry’s most popular games including DragonVale, NinJump and Paper Toss. Hasbro paid $112 million in an all cash transaction for 70% of the company.

Founded in 2009 by Julian Farrior, Dale Thoms and Tom Blind, Backflip Studios has had more than 300 million downloads of its games. Other titles in their portfolio include, Ragdoll Blaster, Army of Darkness Defense andOutWorded. Backflip will continue to develop its own IP, as well as create mobile games featuring many of Hasbro’s best known brands. As part of the transaction, Backflip’s management team will continue to run the company, which will remain in Boulder. Hasbro anticipates the transaction to be neutral to slightly accretive to its 2013 financial results.backflip-logo

“The acquisition of Backflip fits perfectly into our strategy of extending our brands into all forms and formats,” said Brian Goldner, President and CEO of Hasbro, Inc. “As mobile play continues its rapid growth, Backflip’s leadership position, great games and established network of users, makes Hasbro a more meaningful participant in digital gaming. Together with Julian, Dale and the talented team at Backflip, we will continue to take a leadership role in bringing great game play to the mobile environment.”

USA, Pawtucket, RI & Boulder, CO

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eBay acquires 2dehands.be and 2ememain.be

July 4, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

ebay2eBay has acquired 2dehands.be and 2ememain.be, online classifieds sites in Belgium. 2dehands.be and 2ememain.be have 5.5 million unique visitors coming to the sites each month. The sites will join the eBay Classifieds Group. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

According to the ebay blog, “eBay Classifieds Group understands the importance of a local classifieds presence and offering, fitting the needs of the Belgian consumer. The 2dehands.be and 2ememain.be sites will continue to be run by local teams who understand the nuances of the local culture.”2dehands

It continues, “eBay Classifieds Group will invest in the further development of the local Belgian businesses, enhancing the platforms to be faster and more intuitive for users. Furthermore, given eBay’s expertise in creating leading mobile platforms and the enormous potential for mobile growth for 2dehands.be and 2ememain.be, the development of innovative mobile technologies is a priority for the business.”

USA, San Jose & Belgium, Brussels

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TechMedia Network Acquires Bestofmedia Group

July 2, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

techmedianetworkTechMediaNetwork has acquired Bestofmedia Group, a global technology publisher and parent company to tech publications Tom’s Hardware, Tom’s Guide and Tom’s IT Pro. TechMedia Network’s portfolio includes TopTenREVIEWS, LAPTOP and Space.com. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, TechMediaNetwork’s CEO Greg Mason told WSJ that  “Most of this is a stock deal. The Bestofmedia Group investors are wholly invested in the value that we think we can create with the combined businesses in the next couple of years. But this was not an asset sale.”

Founded in 2000, Bestofmedia is a global tech publisher, with more than 30 million monthly unique visitors and media properties operating in eight different languages.  Dr. Thomas Pabst – the original Tom – founded Tom’s Hardware in 1996.bestofmedia

“When looking to increase our U.S. footprint, TechMedia Network immediately jumped to the forefront of potential partners with its growing audience of nearly 50 million monthly unique visitors and impressive content syndication network,” said Antoine Boulin, President, Bestofmedia Group. “Its portfolio of award-winning tech and science publications is a natural fit for our sites and the opportunity to marry their e-commerce engine with our world-class communities and our combined content expertise is an exciting prospect for the future of highly-specialized, vertical media.”

USA, New York, NY & France, Paris

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Yahoo! acquires gaming infrastructure start-up PlayerScale

May 30, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

YahooYahoo! has acquired gaming infrastructure start-up PlayerScale. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

PlayerScale was founded in 2009 and is based in Belmont, California. It develops infrastructure software for various gaming platforms across the social and mobile space. PlayerScale has 100 million users with 4000 titles from over 2,600 developers worldwide.

Other recent Yahoo acquisitions include Astrid, a task-management app maker;Summly, a news-condenser app maker; Stamped, a playerscalemobile-review app maker; OnTheAir, which specializes in broadcasting video chats or interviews to online audiences; Snip.it, which is a kind of clipping service for the web; Propeld, a location-based apps maker; Jybe, a social recommendation site and Loki Studios, a mobile gaming start-up.

The acquisitions are part of a strategy to broaden and strengthen Yahoo!’s expertise in the mobile segment as adoption of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets continue to accelerate.

USA, Sunnyvale, CA & Belmont, CA

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GetYourGuide acquires Gidsy

April 24, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

gidsyGetYourGuide, a spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and an online portal for tours and activities at destinations across the globe, has acquired Gidsy. Gidsy is a Berlin-based, peer-to-peer platform for discovering local experiences and things to do. GetYourGuide will integrate Gidsy’s marketplace of  experiences and make them bookable on www.getyourguide.com. Gidsy’s full team will join GetYourGuide. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gidsy has been backed by Sunstone Capital, Index Ventures and by names such as Werner Vogels, Christophe Maire and Ashton Kutcher.

“GetYourGuide is very excited to gain Gidsy’s great expertise and know-how in the world of online tours andgetyourguide activities,” said Johannes Reck, CEO of GetYourGuide. “By combining Gidsy’s proven excellence in design and expertise in building engaging mobile and social experiences with GetYourGuide’s fast-growing web platform and strong distribution network, we are positioned to completely transform the way travel activities are discovered, bought and sold. Thanks to this move, GetYourGuide is providing consumers with an unmatched resource for  finding and booking travel experiences.”

Switzerland, Zurich & Germany, Berlin

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Publicis Groupe to acquire Neev in India

April 18, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

PublicisPublicis Groupe is to acquire Neev, an Indian technology services providers specialising in eCommerce, SaaS (Software as a Service) and cloud applications across web, social and mobile. Neev will be aligned with Razorfish, one of the largest interactive marketing and technology companies in the world; the acquisition triggers the launch of the Razorfish brand in India.

Founded in 2005 and based in Bangalore, Neev has  grown quickly and now employs a team of 250 specialists.

“Razorfish can now offer scaled expertise in India, complementing its already strong presence in Greater China and Australia,”says Vincent Digonnet, President APAC of Razorfish and Digitas networks. “At the core of Razorfish lies innovation and technology, and we can only launch the brand in a market with a very deep tech development capability. Neev is providing us with the right engine, including an ability to deliver sophisticated state of the art web, ecommerce, mobile and social solutions. In addition, the acquisition will support the development capabilitiesof Razorfish technology teams in the US.”

Earlier this year, Publicis Groupe acquired the digital agency Convonix based in Mumbai and back in 2012 acquired  iStrat (December 2012), Resultrix (August 2012) and Indigo Consulting (April 2012).

The agency will operate as Razorfish Neev led by Neev CEO, Saurabh Chandra . He will report into Kanika Mathur , Managing Director for Razorfish and Digitas India, with a direct connection to Ray Velez , Global CTO for Razorfish.

UK, London & India, Bangalore

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Elsevier acquires Mendeley – cloud-based research management and collaboration platform

April 9, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

elsevierElsevier has acquired Mendeley, a London-based company that operates a global research management and collaboration platform. Researchers use Mendeley’s desktop and cloud-based tools to manage and annotate documents, create citations and bibliographies, collaborate on research projects and network with fellow academics.

“Mendeley is an innovative company with great culture, talent and collaborative spirit, and we will keep it that way,” said Olivier mendeleyDumon, Managing Director of Academic and Government Research Markets at Elsevier. “Not only that, but together we intend to scale and evolve Mendeley in ways that benefit the entire research community. We will provide greater access to content, data, and analytics tools to Mendeley’s users and its flourishing third-party app ecosystem, all of which will enable us to increase both Elsevier’s and Mendeley’s engagement with researchers.”

Launched in late 2008, Mendeley was the brainchild of three PhD students wanting an easier way to manage their research papers and collaborate with colleagues overseas. They developed a desktop app that could automatically extract metadata and keywords from PDFs, thus turning loose collections of PDFs into structured, searchable research paper databases that were synchronized to the cloud.

From the start, they were thrilled by the idea that this crowd-sourced data would allow Mendeley to analyse research trends across academic disciplines in real time, show readership statistics for individual research papers, connect researchers with similar interests and generate research paper recommendations based on collaborative filtering.

The Netherlands, Amsterdam & UK, London

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