KIT digital Acquires Multicast Media in $18 Million Deal
KIT digital solidifies its position as a global leader in enterprise IP video management with the planned acquisition of Multicast Media of Atlanta, Georgia, it announced today. The Prague-based KIT executed a definitive agreement to acquire Muticast, a deal worth $18 million. That's $4.9 million in cash, 1.3 million shares of KIT digital common stock, and the assumption of $4.6 million in long-term liabilities.
The deal—which the company first began hinting at in January—should have advantages to customers of both companies, as KIT will be integrating live and content delivery solutions from Media Suite, Multicast's end-to-end solution for managing live and on-demand IP video and multimedia presentations, into its own VX-one platform. The company expects to have Multimedia's clients on a unified platform by the third quarter of 2010.
In addition to its online video platform and live streaming services— which Multicast claims were used by nearly 1,000 organizations to broadcast more than 50,000 live events in 2009—the acquisition gives KIT a cloud transcoding platform, one that won the Transcoding SaaS category in the 2009 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards.
The client base for Multicast includes 960 government, non-profit, and faith-based groups, as well as Fortune 500 companies, such as FedEx, Delta Airlines, Home Box Office, and The Christian Science Publishing Society. Its IP video management software takes in $12 million annually in license fees.
"Multicast complements and substantially expands our North American client base, as well as our capabilities in serving video to the 'three screens' of the mobile device, browser and IP-enabled television," says KIT digital's chairman and CEO, Kaleil Isaza Tuzman.
The acquisition also brings several Multicast executives into KIT's management team. Multicast's roughly 90 employees will continue to work in Atlanta, Georgia, and that office will become a hub for KIT digital's client delivery in North and South America.
KIT digital plans to complete the acquisition by March 31.
It's been a busy 12 months for KIT. Last week, the company closed a $15 million equity offering just last week, and in October 2009 acquired Nunet and The Feedroom for a total of $21 million.
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