M&A Report: RouteMatch, Caesars Entertainment and OPAQ in the News

In keeping with our mission to provide comprehensive advertising analysis, MediaRadar puts together a report of the most important mergers and acquisitions news each week. Stay in the loop, whether you sell advertising space or focus on business development.

This week, Uber acquired RouteMatch, Caesars and Eldorado Resorts completed their merger and OPAQ bolstered its security services with Fortinet.

Uber Purchases RouteMatch

In an effort to integrate more public transportation services, Uber has acquired RouteMatch, a company that develops and sells software to public transit agencies. The software facilitates data management, dispatching, trip booking, and ticketing.

The acquisition comes a month after Uber announced it will manage a new on-demand public transportation service alongside California’s Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM). Uber users in Marin County now have the option to use “Marin Connect,” to book a ride on one of TAM’s 6-seater and wheelchair-accessible vans for $4 per mile with no booking fee.

The acquisition of RouteMatch paves the way for Uber to expand the service, as RouteMatch already has deals to provide technology to 550 transit agencies in North America and Australia.

The deal outlines a classic case of “if you can’t beat them, join them,” as public transportation continues to struggle competing with rideshare companies. Financial details of the acquisition have not been made public.

Caesars Entertainment Merged with Eldorado Resorts

Eldorado Resorts and Caesars Entertainment have completed their $17.3 billion merger, with Eldorado buying out Caesars for $8.58 billion plus about $8.8 billion worth of Caesars’ debt.

The merged enterprise will overtake MGM Resorts as the largest casino and entertainment company in the US, with the combined company set to own and operate more than 55 casino properties across 16 states, including 8 resorts right on the Vegas Strip and locations in Dubai, England, and South Africa.

The merger was first announced in June 2019, and since then the casino and hotel industry has been hit hard by shutdowns due to the pandemic. Prior to those shutdowns, the combined company was set to have 80,000 employees. Almost half of that staff has been let go.

The company will have to sell off several properties due to antitrust concerns before the Federal Trade Commision can approve the merger.

OPAQ Networks Acquired by Fortinet

Cybersecurity company Fortinet has acquired OPAQ Networks, a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) cloud provider. Known for its patented Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), OPAQ protects distributed networks including data centers, Internet of Things devices, branch offices, and remote users.

Fortinet will use ZTNA to bolster its existing SASE service to provide industry-leading firewall and SD-WAN capabilities, web security, identity/multi-factor authentication, browser isolation, and web application firewalling capabilities.

Fortinet’s integrated and enhanced security options though this acquisition gives the company leverage to compete with Cisco and VMware in the SASE market, which has expanded since COVID shut down offices around the world and sparked the trend of remote work. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

In Other News

Want more updates? Here are important pending deals and developments to watch:

Biotech giant Gilead Sciences is set to acquire a 49.9% equity interest in Tizona Therapeutics through a $300 million investment, with the option of purchasing the whole company later for an additional $1.25 billion.

In a move to grow its podcast business, The New York Times Company has announced it is set to acquire Serial Productions, which produces the popular podcast “Serial.”

E-Commerce giant eBay is making money moves. The internet giant has signed a deal to sell off its Classifieds division to Adevinta in a deal valued at a whopping $9.2 billion; to be meted out as $2.5 billion in cash and 540 million Adevinta shares.

Chevron Corporation announced on Monday that it is acquiring U.S. oil company Noble Energy in a $13 billion deal, including debt.

Bloomberg says that SoftBank Group Corp. has hired Goldman Sachs to explore a sale of its data-and-device-management unit Treasure Data for $1 billion.

According to Reuters, the world’s largest retailer, Walmart Inc. has revived talks with potential buyers about selling a stake in its British supermarket, Asda Stores Ltd. Asda, the third-largest grocer in the U.K.