Topic: M&A
Google Buys AIMatter, Which Makes Photo Manipulation Tools and Apps (Aug 17, 2017)
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Target Acquires Grand Junction Logistics Tech, Broadens Restock Delivery Service (Aug 15, 2017)
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Facebook Acquires Tech to Add or Remove Objects in Videos (Aug 11, 2017)
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Cablevision Owner Altice Said to be Considering a Bid for Charter (Aug 9, 2017)
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★ Disney Reports Earnings, Will Acquire BAMTech, Launch Streaming Services (Aug 8, 2017)
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★ Netflix Acquires Millarworld Comic Book Company to Hedge Against Loss of Marvel (Aug 7, 2017)
Netflix is (somewhat remarkably) making its first ever acquisition, buying comic book company Millarworld, which was started by Mark Millar and some former colleagues who had all written comic books for DC and Marvel and wanted a bigger stake in their creations, nearly 15 years ago. The terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed, so it’s far from clear what the immediate financial impact on Netflix will be, either in terms of the acquisition price or the revenue or profits from adding this first bit of diversification to the business. The whole announcement from Netflix reads like a subtle dig at Marvel, which is interesting given the close relationship the two companies currently enjoy. Millar is described as a “modern-day Stan Lee”, when of course Stan Lee himself is still alive and actively involved in the community if not actively creating new content, while the release also says that Millar was behind a number of the characters whose stories have been turned into movies by Marvel Studios over the last few years. Clearly, the claim here – somewhat farfetched – is that Millarworld is the new Marvel. Several of its characters and stories have already been turned into movies in recent years, and with some success, so it’s not a totally absurd claim. But overall few of them have the mass-market name recognition of Marvel or DC’s characters, and some quick feedback from people on Twitter who are more into this world than I am suggest that as a competitor it’s a pretty distant third behind the big two. This is clearly an attempt to secure more original content for Netflix, but also something of a hedge against the time that Netflix’s deal with Disney and therefore Marvel goes away, though on the latter point the acquisition also likely raises the risk that deal does go away, so perhaps Netflix has already had signals (or has simply decided independently) that it won’t renew. But it doesn’t sound like it’s going to provide anything like the same quality or quantity of content for Netflix that the Marvel deal does.
via Netflix (PDF)
Google Has Reportedly Had Informal Talks to Acquire Snap for $30 Billion (Aug 3, 2017)
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Sprint Reports First Net Income in Three Years, Anemic Subscriber Growth (Aug 1, 2017)
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Facebook Acquires Conversational AI Startup Ozlo to Beef Up Messenger (Aug 1, 2017)
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Discovery to Acquire Scripps Networks for $14.6 Billion (Jul 31, 2017)
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Charter Says it Doesn’t Want to Buy Sprint (Jul 31, 2017)
There were lots of reports over the weekend that Sprint and Charter were approaching a tie-up, just after the end of the exclusive negotiating period between the two and Comcast which began just over a month ago. However, Charter has now come out and said that it’s not interested in buying Sprint, which isn’t necessarily the deal being discussed, but is as close as Charter can get to saying it’s not interested in any deal, given that it has a fiduciary responsibility to keep the door to potential acquisition offers open. It’s been fascinating to watch this latest round of SoftBank-driven Sprint merger mania, because whereas last time Sprint was to merge with another player (T-Mobile), it was the US government that shot it down. This time around, the biggest barrier is a lack of willing partners. T-Mobile is certainly far less in need of the merger now than it arguably was several years ago, while the cable companies may well want to merge with a wireless industry, just not the weakest of the big four US providers. Sprint has the poorest network, the poorest financial performance, the lowest overall subscriber growth, and the least subscribers of any of the big four operators, making it the least attractive merger partner of the four, with T-Mobile much more enticing at this point. It’s still possible that SoftBank will try to buy Charter, and if the price is high enough that Charter’s management will feel they have to accept the offer, but it’s clear at this point that this will happen against their stated wishes, which will make any merger process that much more challenging than it would already have been.
via WSJ
Facebook Acquires Content Identification Team and Technology Company Source3 (Jul 24, 2017)
Facebook has made a small acquisition in the content identification space, buying Source3 and bringing on board its technology and people. The company majored on identifying copyright-infringing material, especially in user-generated content, something that Facebook has been working on for some time but clearly hasn’t cracked yet. As with YouTube in its early days, albeit at a very different scale, Facebook appears to have put growing its video business ahead of its ability to monitor that content for IP infringements, and is now scrambling to catch up. Copyright infringements are a big issue for Facebook, which has been accused of not doing enough to stop it in not just recorded video but live video, so it needs acquisitions like this one to speed up its progress in this area. This one seems likely to have been small – the company had only raised $4 million in venture funding, so it’s likely that it went for some low multiple of that, making it eminently affordable in Facebook terms.
via Recode
Sizmek to Acquire Fellow Ad Tech Company Rocket Fuel for $125.5 Million (Jul 18, 2017)
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Snapchat Is Looking for Ad Tech Acquisitions, Has Talked to AdRoll (Jul 14, 2017)
Business Insider reports that Snapchat is looking to beef up its ad tech capabilities and has had discussions with AdRoll as a possible candidate, though those talks seem to have ended at this point. This goes to the heart of one of the big weaknesses Snapchat still has as an advertising platform, namely its inability to give advertisers the insights they want into how their ads are performing or the impact they’re having. That, combined with the lack of user growth, means Snap’s future growth prospects are challenged, and that in turn explains the recent hit to the stock price. The right acquisition (or several) in this space would help change that, but many of the best assets in the market have long since been snapped up (or developed internally) by the major players, so the pickings will be slim and the benefits of an acquisition less than they might once have been.
via Business Insider
★ Uber Joins Forces with Yandex in Russian Ride Sharing Market (Jul 13, 2017)
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Vizio Files Suit Against LeEco Over Merger Termination Fee (Jul 12, 2017)
LeEco was to have acquired TV maker Vizio, but after months of delays the deal finally fell apart earlier this year, and now Vizio is suing LeEco over non-payment of part of the termination fee the companies agreed when they made the deal. The suit also alleges that LeEco never had the means to complete the deal, using it merely as a way to bolster its perceived financial stability at a time when there were lots of reports about its cash constraints. Given that those financial problems have only worsened since the deal closed, I’m not sure Vizio is getting the money it wants anytime soon, even if it wins the case. But LeEco is just getting clobbered at this point as a result of problems entirely of its own making, all of which stem from expanding overly aggressively from what had been a reasonably strong position in the Chinese market.
via Variety
★ Sprint Enters Exclusive Talks with Charter, Comcast for Partnership or Merger (Jun 27, 2017)
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★ Alphabet Sells Boston Dynamics and Schaft Robotics Businesses to SoftBank (Jun 9, 2017)
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Uber Looks Set to Acquire Assets, Hire Staff from Valet Parking Startup Luxe (Jun 8, 2017)
While ride sharing companies like Uber and Lyft continue to grab the majority of attention in the transportation tech space, with autonomous driving technology companies getting most of the rest, it’s worth remembering that there are various other transportation tech startups out there, not all of them doing all that well. It appears that Uber is in the process of trying to acquire assets and hire staff from valet parking service Luxe, which is one of those services that appears to have struggled to make its business model work. It had recently announced a pivot of sorts to a new model, but it now seems as though all that will remain is a shell once Uber has snapped up the parts it wants. That may or may not mean that Uber expands into the valet parking space – in fact, I’d say it’s at least as likely that Uber simply sees this as a way to get a number of competent staff with relevant skills quickly and easily while also acquiring some relevant technology.
via WSJ
Apple Acquires Sleep-Tracking Device and App Company Beddit (May 9, 2017)
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