Righster buys YouTube channel network Base79 in £50m deal
Digital video distribution network Righster has bought rival company Base79, to push the business forward at scale and support the company’s “path to profitability”.
Worth up to £50m the deal, which will see Chad Hurley, the co-founder and former chief executive of YouTube join as shareholder, means Rightster will pay around £25m cash for Base79 plus a maximum of £25 million in shares based on earning performance.
As part of the deal, Base79 senior executive Patrick Walker, formerly senior director of YouTube’s EMEA operation, will join Rightster’s executive team.
Both companies operate multi-channel networks (MCN) on YouTube providing cloud-based services to optimise the distribution, sourcing, audience engagement and monetisation of live and on-demand video.
Righster, which was founded by entrepreneur Charlie Muirhead in 2011, has also acquired Viral Spiral for £4.1m, connects brands with social video talent, representing over 1,500 social videos, including “Charlie Bit My Finger” and “Sneezing Panda”
Charlie Muirhead, founder and CEO of Rightster, commented: “Acquiring Base79 and Viral Spiral is transformational for Rightster. Together, they more than double the number of content partners on Rightster’s 360 video distribution platform and catapult us past the 1 billion video views per month milestone, making Rightster the largest YouTube partner outside North America by reach and a top 5 partner in North America.
“Importantly, this greater scale and expertise improves the service we will be able to offer creators and publishers, improving our ability to both grow audiences and increase monetisation and positions us as a global leader in the exploding online video market for brands and media agencies.”
Base79, formed in 2007, generated £9.62m of gross revenue, £3.27m of revenue after commissions, with a loss before tax of approximately £3.74m in 2013.