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, social streaming site Bebo gets a second life with Amazon’s Twitch, Optum acquires DaVita Medical Group under close scrutiny, and Slack is certifiably soaring after its IPO last week.
Bebo Gets a Second Life With Amazon’s Twitch
The social network site Bebo has a new home. More than ten years after being bought by AOL for $850 million, Amazon’s live streaming platform Twitch has officially picked up Bebo for an estimated $25 million.
Most known for its tournaments featuring some of the internet’s biggest live streamers, Bebo will now be fully integrated into Twitch Rivals, the company’s esports operation. The move will position Twitch Rivals to have an even larger stake in the nearly billion dollar industry.
The acquisition also fits into Amazon’s play to be part of the gaming market in a more direct way; several reports have intimated that Amazon is looking to develop its own gaming service to rival those of Apple and Google.
Optum Acquires DaVita Medical Group Under Close Scrutiny
Health care provider Optum has officially completed its acquisition of the Davita Medical Group from its parent company, DaVita Inc. The deal is valued at $4.3 billion and required the Federal Trade Commission’s approval since it raised concerns of a monopoly in the local Nevada market.
The DaVita operations sold to Optum include urgent care centers, surgery centers and medical clinics.
This acquisition is largely emblematic of larger trends in the healthcare industry to put insurers and providers under the same regulatory umbrella, according to Forbes. It’s only the latest in a line of deals pointing to the trend. Pharmacy titan CVS bought Aetna last year, while Humana has been reportedly signing numerous deals with Walgreens Boots Alliance, Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
Slack is Soaring After its IPO
After opening with a reference price of $26 on Wednesday, Slack’s shares soared to $38.50 on Friday. The price gave the workplace collaboration company a $19.5 billion valuation more than triple its $7.1 billion valuation as a private company.
While much bigger companies like Lyft and Uber faced more fraught rollouts with quick drops in stock prices, Slack’s small size, investor intrigue and the $793 million it has in its war chest have ultimately allowed the company to quell fears.
For the tech giants, Slack is the one that got away. After dodging the inquiring eyes of Amazon, Google and Apple, the enterprise messaging app now boasts more than 600,000 organizations and 95,000 paying customers.
In Other News
These are some other notable deals and developments from the past week:
- WebMD has acquired Frontline MEdical Communications, known for its live conferences and events exclusive to the healthcare industry. Both companies will continue to operate independently.
- Home furnishing retailer Crate & Barrel has acquired the home decor brand Hudson Grace, keeping the stores operationally independent but eyeing the future of digital retail.
- After 31 years as a publicly traded company, International auction house Sotheby’s announced that it has accepted a $3.7 billion offer to be acquired by French billionaire and art collector Patrick Drahi’s BidFair USA.
- Pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer, Inc. announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Array BioPharmafor $11.4 billion.
- Confectionery, food, and beverage company Mondelez International announced that it is acquiring a majority interest in Perfect Snacks, a pioneer in refrigerated nutrition bars.
According to CNBC, the divestiture of Boost Mobile to Dish Network from T-Mobile is highly likely to be approved by the Justice Department; this is possibly the last condition remaining for T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint to become the third largest mobile communications provider in the U.S.
