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, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles merged with Groupe PSA, Cinedigm acquired Fandor, and Live Nation Entertainment bought a majority stake in Veeps.
PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Form Stellantis
PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) have officially completed a roughly $50 billion merger, creating Stellantis. Stellantis, which now oversees brands including Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati, is the fourth-biggest automaker in the world by volume and the third-biggest by revenue.
The strategy behind the newly merged company targets a trend towards electric vehicles. Currently, Stellantis has 29 electrified vehicles on the market, and has plans to increase that to 39 by the end of the year.
At a press conference, the company announced that by 2025 Stellantis companies will proces “one electrified model for every newly launched global model.” The merger is expected to provide about 5 billion euros ($6.1 billion) in annual cost savings.
Cinedigm Buys Fandor, Growing Online Streaming Offerings
Cinedigm Corp. has expanded its online streaming service by acquiring the indie film streaming company Fandor. Fandor’s library consists of around 7,000 titles, including independent films, documentaries, and international feature films.
Cinedigm has promised to continue Fandor’s policy of ad-free service but intends to include a free, ad-supported on-demand tier as well as a linear streaming channel to expand audience reach.
Cinedigm believes that its makeover and investment plans for Fandor will increase the streaming service to 1 million subscribers in “the next 24-30 months.”
Live Nation Acquires Veeps, Breaking Into the Live Streaming Space
Since the Coronavirus pandemic has stricken live events from calendars around the world, one of the leaders in concert promotion, Live Nation, is moving into the fast-growing live streaming space by acquiring a majority stake in Veeps, Inc.
Live Nation has suffered revenue declines of 95-98% in the past two quarters.
Veeps, on the other hand, aired about 1,000 livestreams and brought in $10 million of virtual ticket revenue in 2020. They also offer unique virtual features like chat capabilities and exclusive merch deals to live events to promote engagement between artists and audiences.
The live stream event may be the only game in town for the foreseeable future as Dr. Fauci says concert venues and theaters will remain closed until Fall 2021 at the earliest.
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino noted that “live streaming is a great compliment to our core business, and essentially gives any show an unlimited capacity. Looking to the future, live streams will continue to unlock access for fans.”
In Other News
Other notable events this week include:
- McKinsey & Company, Inc. has acquired cloud specialists Candid Partners after the two companies were brought together to collaborate on a major cloud transformation project for a large client.
- Telecommunications equipment company Lumentum is acquiring Coherent in a $5.7 billion deal that is the latest in a wave of consolidation in the optical component industry.
- Wattpad, a 14-year-old Toronto-based entertainment company for original stories and social storytelling platform, announced that it has agreed to be acquired by South Korea’s internet conglomerate Naver Corporation for $600 million.
- Citrix Systems, Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SaaS work management platform Wrike for $2.25 billion in cash.
- According to Bloomberg, online payment specialist, Payoneer Inc., is in talks to go public through a merger with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
- According to The Mac Observer, Apple has been working on a podcast subscription service to compete with Spotify, and it’s likely that the new service would be called Podcast+, following Apple’s naming convention.
- In yet another sign that tele-healthcare has become mainstream, online therapy app Talkspace announced that it would go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Hudson Executive Investment Corp.
