Verizon has revealed it has agreed to buy a 24.5 per cent stake in AwesomenessTV. Upon completion of this transaction, the AwesomenessTV multi-platform media business will be valued at approximately $650 million. DreamWorks Animation which acquired AwesomenessTV in 2013, will remain the Company’s majority stakeholder with an approximate 51 per cent ownership of outstanding shares, […]
The sale of the struggling Sea Launch rocket launch enterprise has been blocked by minority shareholder Boeing. Boeing has started a legal action in California, seeking to obtain an injunction to halt the proposed sale, arguing that it wants payments contracted with a former partner of Sea Launch, the Energia rocket building business. Russia’s Roscosmos […]
European telecom stocks have stumbled after a deal to create France’s biggest telecoms group collapsed. French operators Orange and Bouygues Telecom ended talks late on April 1st over the reported €10 billion merger. Bouygues shares are on course for their worst fall in 17 years, plummeting nearly 15 per cent in early trading, while Orange […]
According to SNL Kagan, a group within S&P Global Market Intelligence, estimates announced today, US broadcast station M&A volume reached $4.70 billion in the first quarter of 2016, excluding construction permits (CPs) and partial deals. Almost the entire TV volume of $4.61 billion was attributable to Nexstar Broadcasting Group’s January 27th definitive agreement to acquire […]
On February 26th SES announced that its SES Platform Services (SPS) division would be acquiring Tel Aviv-based RR Media for about $242 million ($13.29 a share). The agreement is expected to close during the next few months, and without presuming too much both RR Media boss Avi Cohen and SPS CEO Wilfried Urner are planning […]
Richard Desmond, owner of the Daily Express and Daily Star newspapers, has sold his adult TV business, including the Television X and Red Hot channels, severing his last link to the adult industry. Holding company Northern & Shell, announced it had sold its adult broadcasting arm, Portland Television, in a management buyout worth six figures, […]
Beamr, an expert in media optimisation solutions, is acquiring Vanguard Video, a provider of HEVC and H.264 codec technologies, and raising a $15 million funding round led by Disruptive Growth, with the participation of Marker and Innovation Endeavors. Beamr says the transaction positions it as a global leader in H.264 and HEVC video encoding and […]
Two major players in digital media could be combining, according to a report in the NYT. Rovi is, apparently, bidding for TiVo with a mix of cash and stock that would mean the merged company would be owned about 70 per cent by Rovi (current market cap $1.7 billion) and 30 per cent by TiVo (current […]
Sky has taken a minority stake in Sugar Films, an independent production company founded by senior television professionals Kwadjo Dajan, Narinder Minhas, Lucy Pilkington, Nav Raman and Pat Younge. Former Discovery Networks International president and CEO Mark Hollinger will also take a stake in the company and become Chairman. The investments by Sky and Mark […]
StarHub is taking a 9.05 per cent stake in mm2 Asia for $18 million. The agreement between the two companies was signed on March 22nd Headquartered in Singapore, mm2 Asia is a producer of content for TV and online platforms, and films. mm2 Asia also has a presence in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan […]