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, Match acquired Hyperconnect, Sony Music Entertainment made a big investment in podcasts and Just Eat Takeaway finalized GrubHub acquisition.
Match Group Acquired Hyperconnect, its largest acquisition yet
Match Group has completed its acquisition of Hyperconnect for a cash and stock deal valued at around $1.73 billion.
The deal was first announced in February and is the largest acquisition to date by Match Group, which also owns dating app brands including Tinder and Hinge.
Hyperconnect is a leading social discovery and video technology company that operates two flagship apps: Axar, with over 540 million worldwide downloads, and Hakuna Live, which enables group video and audio broadcasts.
The company is projected to bring in $200 million in revenue this year, a 50% increase from 2019.
Sony Music Entertainment makes major podcast, gaining Somethin’ Else
Sony Music has completed its acquisition of Somethin Else, the UK’s largest independent podcast producer.
The deal is a major step for Sony into the podcast industry, following companies like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify, which have all made major investments following a rapid expansion of podcast listeners.
Sony is using the acquisition to launch a new podcast division. Somethin’ Else was the winner of Best Publisher or Network at the British Podcast Awards 2020 and produces popular shows including Escape, Future Lab, and The Economist Podcast.
Just Eat Takeaway gets GrubHub, increasing European dominance and breaking more into the U.S.
Just Eat Takeaway.com announced on Tuesday that it has completed its acquisition of GrubHub, creating one of the world’s largest online food delivery companies.
Takeaway.com was founded in 2000 in the Netherlands. It acquired Lieferando.com in 2014 for $103 million, and helped make it the largest food delivery company in Germany.
Acquiring GrubHub gives Just Eat Takeaway a large slice of the US market, and also expands on its current dominance in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK.
In Other News
Other events making headlines include:
- Repay Holdings Corporation has completed its acquisition of BillingTree for approximately $503 million, paying $275 with cash upfront and 10 million shares of newly issued stock.
- Danaher Corporation announced on Thursday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Aldevron, a contract development and manufacturing organization that specializes in making biologics for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
- Ford Motor Company announced that it is acquiring Electriphi, a provider of charging management and fleet-monitoring software for electric vehicles.
- Investment firm Platinum Equity announced that it is acquiring textbook publishing and educational technology company McGraw Hill from Apollo Global Management, Inc. for $4.5 billion.
- According to Bloomberg, private-label business acquirer Thrasio is in talks to go public through a merger with Michael Klein’s blank-check company, Churchill Capital Corp. V
- According to Bloomberg, All Market Inc., the owner of coconut water brand Vita Coco, is said to be planning an initial public offering in the U.S. later this year.
