M&A Report: Fandango buys Movies.com, CBS Closes Part of Tender Offer
Through nearly the first 180 days, 2008 has been a busy year for M&A activity . Today, adding to the year’s tally, movie ticketing service Fandango announced the acquisition of Movies.com from Disney.
Under the prior name mrshowbiz.com, Movies.com was launched in 2000 to provide movie summaries, facts and celebrity info. In May, the site drew 1.9m unique visitors.
Fandango, which was bought by Comcast in April 2007, provides online ticket sales for about 15,000 movie screens around the U.S.. The site drew approximately 6.3m unique visitors in May.
The company currently splits its revenue between advertising income and $1 per ticket fees for movie tickets sold through the site. Fandango’s ad sales group will handle sales across both properties after the completion of the acquisition.
The addition of Movies.com, along with its related content, is seen as a way to draw a larger audience and help Fandango continue to meet double digit percentage traffic growth goals.
Financial details of the purchase weren’t disclosed.
OTHER M&A NEWS:
A couple of days after Jana Partners gave its blessing (or at least assured it wouldn’t object) to CBS’ acquisition of CNET, CBS has confirmed it successfully completed the first offering of its tender offer to acquire the web news properties.
As of midnight on June 20th, 78% of CNET stock was tendered. The second round of the tender offer is set to close Wednesday, June 25th.
With a majority of shares already pledged to CBS, the deal is unlikely to hit any major obstacles to closing.
Related Articles
•CBS Reaches Out To Revive CNET
•Comcast Buys Fandango
•Icahnography: The Stylings of Carl
•Microhoo – The Deal That Wasn’t
•Channel X: MGM Paramount and Lions Gate Run at Cable
•CBS Earnings Beat the Street.
•CBS buys Last.Fm
