Viggle to Acquire GetGlue
On Nov. 8, they were enjoying the Social TV Summit in New York City with cocktail parties, panel discussions. This week, they are the second domino to fall as the Social TV industry consolidates as Viggle announced that it will acquire Get Glue in a cash-and-stock deal valued at nearly $60 million.
See the press release here.
Last week, NM Incite, the two-year-old Nielsen and McKinsey & Co. joint venture, announced the acquisition of New York-based startup Social Guide. Financials were not disclosed.
Viggle will acquire GetGlue, which was launched in 2007, for $25 million in cash and 48.3 million shares of stock, the company said in a statement. Viggle trades over-the-counter.
GetGlue founder and chief executive Alex Iskold will join Viggle as a senior executive and a member of the board. All 34 GetGlue employees will join Viggle, the company said.
“With this deal, we are combining very experienced and creative product, engineering and management teams that will continue to build great user experiences and provide industry leading platforms for consumers, networks and advertisers,” Sillerman said. “We will also be vastly increasing the Viggle user base and quadrupling our network partnerships. Viggle and GetGlue users can look forward to using the apps they have come to love as we add new and appealing features made possible by the combined resources of this clear industry leader,” Robert F.X. Sillerman, executive chairman and CEO of Viggle, said in a statement.
Not only does Viggle get a talented engineering and marketing team, but the company also acquires GetGlue’s more than 3.2 million registered users and its database with more than 500 million entertainment ratings and check-ins. GetGlueHD provides a mobile guide of TV and online content in calendar form.
Viggle, launched in January 2012, has 1.2 million registered users for its TV loyalty program.
GetGlue emerged out of New York-based semantic software maker AdaptiveBlue and has taken four rounds of venture investment totaling $24 million from Union Square Ventures, RRE Ventures, Time Warner, RHO Ventures and angel investors.
On Twitter, the reaction in the #socialtv community was positive:
Congrats to my pals @getglue @alexiskold and @viggle @gconsig BIG moves my friends.. BIG and BOLD!! #SocialTV A Bomb
— Jesse Redniss (@jesseredniss) November 19, 2012
HUGE #socialTV news: @getglue Acquired by @viggle ow.ly/fpmDg // Congrats @alexiskold & team
— Bluefin Labs (@bluefinlabs) November 19, 2012
Consolidation in the #SocialTV space. Viggle acquires GetGlue for $75M in Stock&Cash. It doesn’t always pay to be 1st bit.ly/SYYAjr
— Bertram Gugel (@digitalerfilm) November 19, 2012
It could. Depends what they do w/ GG. RT @dflashnyc: This def puts Viggle in a better position to compete w/ Zeebox for #socialtv dominance.
— Tarah Feinberg (@TarahFO) November 19, 2012
Congrats to our partners! #SocialTV Leaders @viggle and @getglue Enter into Agreement to Merge businesswire.com/news/home/2012… via @businesswire
— Trendrr (@Trendrr) November 19, 2012
