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, Apple swoops in to acquire the self-driving software of Drive.ai, AbbVie acquires Botox producer Allergan and Future Media Group acquires W Magazine from Conde Nast.
Apple Acquires Struggling Drive.ai
Last week, the fate of self-driving tech startup Drive.ai seemed all but certain. The company planned to close its Mountain View campus and its business. But then Apple announced that it acquired the struggling startup, renewing its interest in self-driving software.
Last year, Drive.ai was one of the most promising startups in the self-driving tech space. It made headlines with its developments in object recognition on the road and successful test drives. But with soaring costs, investors started to see the value in long term, spread out partnerships. While no financial details of the deal have been made public, Apple seems to take exception to this premise.
AbbVie Acquires Botox Producer Allergan
In a deal estimated at $63 billion, drug company Abbvie will acquire the pharmaceutical company Allergan, best known as the producer of Botox.
The move is likely a prevention measure as AbbVie faces the possibility of losing its patent protection for Humira, a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis that accounted for over 60 percent of the company’s revenue last year.
Expanding its portfolio beyond Humira means AbbVie will be able to rely on Botox’ consistent sales once similar drugs go on the market.
Future Media Group Acquires W Magazine from Conde Nast
New player Future Media Group has acquired W Magazine from Conde Naste. The latter publisher grew the magazine to 500,000 paid subscribers since it purchased W from Disney 20 years ago.
Future Media hopes to position its portfolio, including high end magazines Surface and Watch Journal, as an especially luxury oriented collection of brands for its readers and ad buyers. Future will continue publishing eight issues per year and aims to expand the magazine’s digital footprint outside of just print.
In Other News
- Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertainment, in a deal estimated at $7.2 million and 77 million shares of Eldorado.
- Extreme Networks announced an agreement to acquire Aerohive Networks, best known for controller-less Wi-FI and cloud managed Wi-Fi.
- Valley National Bancorp is acquiring Oritani Financial Corp for $740 million. The deal will just about double Valley’s market share of local banking in Bergen County, NJ.
- Private equity firm L Catterton will acquire American steakhouse chain Del Frisco’s in an all-cash deal.
- Complying with FCC requirements, Bristol-Myers will sell off Otezla (a psoriasis treatment pill) after its merger with Celgene later this year.
- Coca-Cola has begun exploratory talks with Café Coffee Day to acquire a considerable stake in what is now India’s largest coffee chain.
