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, Penn National gains a big stake in Barstool Sports, Hello Products is acquired by Colgate-Palmolive, and GoDaddy is set to expand its services with content startup Over.
Penn National Gaming to Acquire a Stake in Barstool Sports
Penn National Gaming has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire a 36% stake in Barstool Sports for $163 million.
Barstool Sports is a leading digital sports, entertainment, and media platform that benefits from over 66 million monthly visitors on its digital products. The deal will result in Penn National as Barstool Sports’ exclusive gaming partner for up to 40 years, with the right to use Barstool Sports’ brand for any of the company’s gambling products.
Penn National owns and operates several gaming and racing facilities, as well as slot machine focused entertainment terminals. Penn National’s facilities have approximately 50,500 gaming machines, 1,300 table games, and 8,800 hotel rooms. The ability to use Barstool Sports’ branding will further Penn National’s reach to a larger audience of various ages.
Hello Products Being Acquired by Colgate-Palmolive
The self-described “naturally friendly” toothpaste and oral care subscription box, Hello Products, is being acquired by Colgate-Palmolive Company.
The Hello Products brand is known for its youthful market appeal and reputation for natural products, “without things like triclosan, artificial sweeteners, synthetic dyes, or artificial flavors.”
The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but according to Colgate, the transaction will be financed with a combination of cash and debt and is currently expected to close no later than February this year. The current leadership will continue their roles at Hello Products and Colgate plans to use their resources to grow the brand’s market reach.
Over Being Acquired by GoDaddy
Website domain management company GoDaddy has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire South African social content startup Over.
Over helps businesses set up and create professional photos and videos for their social media. The acquisition is a continuation of GoDaddy’s strategy of enhancing and broadening its business offerings.
The company relaunched its website building tools with email marketing and SEO features. It also integrated the popular eCommerce engine WooCommerce into its suite of offerings. Over will remain a standalone app under GoDaddy, but the 76-person team will be building integrations with GoDaddy’s Websites+Marketing suites.
In Other News
These are some other notable deals and developments from the past week:
- Centene Corporation, a multi-national healthcare enterprise that provides a portfolio of services to government sponsored and commercial healthcare programs, has announced its completed acquisition of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. The deal was valued at approximately $17.3 billion.
- Comcast has completed its acquisition of Blueface, a leading unified communications solutions provider based in Ireland.
- K12 has acquired Galvanize, a Denver-based education company that provides bootcamps and training for data science and software engineering prospects, for $165 million.
- Lee Enterprises, owner of the Lincoln Journal Star, is acquiring BH Media Group, owner of The Buffalo News, for approximately $140 million.
- Lex Wexner, the longest serving CEO on the S&P 500 index, indicated that he intends to step aside from his role in the fashion and lingerie company L Brands Inc. Wexner will pursue strategic alternatives, including breaking up the company by selling its lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret.
- Reynolds Consumer Products, famous for its household products like Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil and Hefty trash bags, started executing its IPO plan to raise up to $1.32 billion in 2020. The plan is to sell 47.2 million shares at the $25 – $28 range, which puts the company’s valuation at roughly $4.7 billion.
