US company WebMD, a healthcare professional (HCP) information service owned by Internet Brands, is to buy the German equivalent Coliquio and integrate it into WebMD’s Medscape. Medscape and its associated brands reach an audience of 5m doctors, 80% outside the US. Terms not disclosed. WebMD
Discovery buys science
US-based Discovery Education has added Mystery Science to its portfolio. Mystery Science covers STEM subjects for younger children. Mystery Science is based in San Francisco and claims to be used in over 50% of American elementary schools. The company will join Discovery’s existing science brands including Discovery Education, STEM Connect and Science Techbook. The company…
How Bloomberg inspires B2B
Digital entrepreneurs cannot resist the temptation to claim their business will become the Netflix or Spotify of magazines and newspapers. It’s easy PR. That’s why we may expect B2B media companies t… This content is exclusive to Flashes & Flames members. You can join our membership for £99/year. Find out more. Username or E-mail Password…
How The Independent did it
In addition to hastening the print-to-digital transition and much else, the Covid Accelerator may kill or cure many of the egregiously-funded online news startups of the past decade. Amid reports… This content is exclusive to Flashes & Flames members. You can join our membership for £99/year. Find out more.
Are Informa UK events for sale?
Informa Plc, the world’s largest exhibitions organiser, may be preparing to sell-off its UK exhibitions. The portfolio, which includes IFSEC, Decorex, Brand Licensing Europe, and London Tech Week, is… This content is exclusive to Flashes & Flames members. You can join our membership for £99/year. Find out more.
Who will buy UK’s Centaur?
The Covid Accelerator can be expected to shake up media ownership, presumably starting with those companies which were already vulnerable. One such company is Centaur Media Plc, the 40-year-old UK B2B publisher which this week said its “overall performance has been resilient, despite the severe impact of Covid-19”. Its revenue in the three months ending…
Clarion buys Quartz Events
After almost six months of trade show torpor, M&A is slowly coming back to life. London-based Clarion Events has acquired the 12-year-old Quartz Events, a California-based producer of invitation-only “executive summits” across cyber-security, finance, logistics and IT. The price, which has not been disclosed, is believed to be a tiny fraction of the estimated $80m+…
Quibi ‘video bites’ fail
Short form video streaming specialist, Quibi, is closing on December 1 after just six months – and having raised $1.8bn. The company had been established by Disney veteran Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman (ex CEO of Hewlett Packard). The aim had been to package short entertainment pieces for millennials but the brand has struggled from…
Universal Music to IPO
Vivendi, which sold a 10% stake in Universal Music Group to a Tencent-led consortium for $3.3bn earlier this year, has now confirmed that it will aim to IPO the company in 2022. The Tencent consortium has an option (until early 2021) on a further 10% of the company’s equity. The company’s revenue has been growing…
Zinc funding for TV deals
UK-based documentary producer Zinc Media Group Plc has completed a recent £4m funding round to fuel growth into 2021. It follows a successful £3.5m round in January this year which was said to have funded the launch of a new Branded Content division, the factual entertainment brand Red Sauce and a new post-production facility. The…
