IMG, the world's leading sports, entertainment and media company,
today announced that it has acquired Nunet AG, a leading provider of
mobile media solutions for 2.5G and 3G mobile network operators.
Nunet is one of the world's leading suppliers of Mobile TV
solutions, and currently streams more than 200 channels for over 20
mobile network operators in Europe, Africa and the Americas.
Clients include Vodafone Germany, Vodafone Global, A1 Mobilkom in
Austria, Swisscom in Switzerland and Vodacom in South Africa.
In addition, Nunet provides both technology and editorial support
to leading content owners to help them develop a wide range of mobile
content products. From WAP sites, real-time tickers, to VoD services,
to dynamic, linear channels with integrated advertising, Nunet has a
diverse set of technical and editorial resources to support its
clients ranging from HBO, Turner, Fujifilm and Sony BMG.
Todd McCormack, IMG Media's Senior Corporate Vice President, said,
"I am delighted to announce the acquisition of Nunet, which represents
an excellent strategic fit with IMG Media. Nunet's capabilities
perfectly complement those of IMG Media, leading to further synergies
and the enhancement of the service we can offer our clients. Under the
leadership of Ted Forstmann, Chairman and CEO, IMG is committed to
investing in assets to help drive growth for our clients and we
recognised that Nunet's executive talent, tools and infrastructure
will add significant resources to capture value in the mobile content
value chain."
Nunet will continue to operate its content aggregation, content
enrichment and distribution services under its own brand, and be run
as an independent business within the IMG Media Group. However, many
in the Nunet team have already re-located to IMG offices as the
company plans to ensure that its mobile solutions can be integrated
into the broader set of digital media solutions offered by IMG Media
to its clients.
Arnd Frohlich, Nunet's CEO, said, "Building on the seven year-old
relationship that Nunet already had working together with IMG, the
acquisition heralds an exciting new era for Nunet. Together this means
that IMG and Nunet have become an even stronger team, capable of
delivering our customers an even better service in the future."
Nunet is based in Cologne, Germany and today employs 50 people.
IMG plans to move its Cologne office into the NuNet facility,
expanding the total presence of IMG Media in the German market to over
100 people.
About IMG
IMG is the world's premier Sports, Entertainment and Media
Company. IMG is a diversified global business with two major business
segments: IMG Media and IMG Sports & Entertainment. IMG employs over
2,600 people in 30 countries. Forstmann Little & Co. purchased IMG in
2004.
IMG Media, which includes our content production subsidiaries TWI,
Darlow Smithson Productions (DSP) and Tiger Aspect Productions (TAP),
is recognized as a global leader in the delivery of traditional and
new media content and services, with Internet, broadband and mobile
expertise, transforming how audiences access and interact with
content.
IMG Media produces and distributes over 10,000 hours of sports,
documentary, drama, comedy, entertainment, popular factual and
children's content annually, over multiple platforms across 200
countries, including award-winning television and radio programming.
It also represents the broadcast rights to many of the world's premier
sporting events and has the world's biggest sports archive with more
than 250,000 hours of footage.
IMG Sports & Entertainment includes: consulting services; event
ownership and management; fashion events and models representation;
licensing; golf course design; client representation in golf, tennis,
broadcasting, European football, rugby, cricket, motorsports,
coaching, Olympic sports and action sports. In addition, IMG Academies
are the world's largest and most advanced, state-of-the-art,
multi-sport training and educational facilities, delivering
world-class sports training experiences to over 12,000 junior,
collegiate, adult and professional athletes each year.
More information about IMG is available at www.imgworld.com,
www.darlowsmithson.com and www.tigeraspect.co.uk.
