Liberty Media launched a special purpose acquisition company, Liberty Media Acquisition Corp., as an indirect subsidiary with the aim of searching for targets in digital and other media, music, communications, telecom and tech, Liberty said Thursday. It said LMAC's SEC filing is in connection with a proposed initial public offering of shares. It said LMAC will be managed by Liberty’s current management team.
Baidu’s $3.6 billion all-cash buy of YY Live, the Chinese video streaming service, will render ad-free content a more “meaningful piece” of Baidu’s core business, said Chief Financial Officer Herman Yu on a Q3 investor call Monday. Once Baidu closes the transaction in 2021's first half, its ad-supported “legacy business, which has been dragging our mobile ecosystem growth, will become an even smaller piece” of the company’s portfolio, he said. Baidu has “substantial upside from growing nonadvertising revenue,” said CEO Robin Li. Ad-free revenue, as a share of Baidu’s “consumer-facing business,” is much lower than that of its “peers,” he said. “Adding YY Live to our portfolio will allow Baidu to gain immediate operational experience and know-how on building a large live video community,” plus speed its migration to ad-free revenue, he said. Li rationalized the deal amid growing saturation in streaming services, saying “it's only natural for us to integrate with a live streaming business such as YY and further monetize our existing user base and traffic” of 300 million daily active users.
Walmart and Rakuten agreed for KKR to buy 65% and a new Rakuten subsidiary focused on retail digital transformation to buy 20% of Japanese supermarket chain Seiyu in a deal valued at $1.6 billion. Walmart will retain 15% of Seiyu, they said Sunday: It lets Seiyu take advantage of KKR, Rakuten and Walmart’s retail expertise and innovation as a stand-alone company and accelerate its digital transformation.
Antitrust authorities cleared the way for Uber to buy Postmates. An FTC early termination notice dated Monday and released Tuesday ended the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.
Graham Holdings agreed to sell its Megaphone podcast hosting and ad-insertion company to Spotify for $235 million, it said Tuesday. At the end of Q3, Spotify had 1.9 million podcasts on the platform, up from over 1.5 million in Q2, said an October shareholder letter. Twenty-two percent of Spotify’s monthly active users engaged with podcast content last quarter, up 21% sequentially. Megaphone provides hosting and ad-insertion capabilities for publishers and targeted ad sales for brand partners.
Intelsat’s $400 million buy of Gogo's commercial aviation connectivity business (see 2009010001) remains on track for closing by the end of Q1, said Gogo CEO Oakleigh Thorne on a Q3 investor call Monday. The transaction cleared the Hart-Scott-Rodino process and awaits approval from the FCC and Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., plus one foreign telecom regulatory OK, he said. Q3 revenue in Gogo’s commercial aviation business, accounted for as discontinued operations, declined 61% from the 2019 quarter, but was up 34% from Q2. Pfizer’s announcement Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine was found to be more than 90% effective in Phase 3 trials “bodes very well for a rebound of the commercial aviation industry next year,” said Thorne.
Walmart announced an agreement to sell its retail operations in Argentina. The company will record a noncash loss of about $1 billion, after tax, in Q3 FY 2021, primarily due to cumulative foreign currency translation losses, it said Friday in an SEC filing.
NPD acquired Pricing Excellence, a retail analytics company specializing in cloud-based computing technologies, said the buyer Tuesday (see also personals section, this issue). Pricing Excellence will enhance NPD’s ability to “provide insight across emerging channels and provide more granular data faster,” it said.
Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners will pay $8.1 billion for Astound Broadband, the parent of regional cable ISPs RCN, Grande, Wave and enTouch, it said Sunday. Stonepeak said the purchase from TPG Capital is expected to close in Q2. It said it will partner with Patriot Media, the management company operating the Astound companies, and Patriot will continue in that role.
Red Ventures completed its $500 million acquisition of CNET Media Group from ViacomCBS, said the buyer Friday. Red Ventures announced the deal in mid-September, saying it was “eager to invest” in CNET’s growth “with more personalized consumer experiences” so it could “reinvigorate” CNET's various brands.