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Hutchison Whampoa O2 Vodafone

Weve partnership between O2, Vodafone and EE to end

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By Gillian West, Social media manager

May 4, 2015 | 2 min read

The buyout of telecoms company O2 by Hutchison Whampoa will see Weve - the mobile marketing partnership between O2, Vodafone and EE - come to an end.

After three years Vodafone and EE are set to withdraw from the venture, which collects data from 20 million customers spanning all three networks, leaving O2 to run Weve as a wholly owned subsidiary.

To launch Weve the three networks invested almost £40m creating a serious player in the lucrative mobile advertising market, competing with the likes of Google, Facebook and Twitter.

However, according to reports the break-up follows difficulties breaking into the market with Weve recently having to drop plans to launch a mobile money service.

During the last three years Weve has been behind national advertising campaigns, including work with the Electoral Commission and more than 200 brands in Q4 2013.

The mobile marketing joint venture reported £13m in revenue for its first year, with an overall loss of £25m, according to its first filings at Companies House. The three shareholders, which represent a combined 80 per cent share of the market, invested £38m to launch the venture, which meant a loss of £25m in the first year.

Vodafone and EE were unavilable for comment at the time of this article's publiciation, while O2 and Weve both declined to comment.

Hutchison Whampoa O2 Vodafone

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