Disqus
GREE, which is apparently Japan’s leading mobile social gaming platform and the fastest growing company in the Land of the rising Sun, is going global with the acquisition of OpenFeint in a deal worth $104 million, plus additional capital for accelerated growth of the OpenFeint platform. That “accelerated growth” involves opening offices in Beijing, Singapore and London; as well as hiring more people to eventually double in size in 2011.
As part of this strategy, OpenFeint’s team will remain with long-term incentives, including CEO and founder Jason Citron, who grew the company to 75 million users and 19,000 game developers in two years. Combined, the two companies [GREE and OpenFeint] will reach 100 million users worldwide, prompting us to question the rationale behind this move with smaller player acquiring the big one.
Anyway, GREE will acquire OpenFeint through the so called “triangular merger.” A new subsidiary was established in the US under GREE International for the 100% acquisition of OpenFeint. GREE contributed to GREE International funds for the acquisition and subscribed for additional shares in GREE International, and the new subsidiary merged into OpenFeint. GREE International will pay cash consideration to OpenFeint shareholders and warrant/option holders in connection with the merger. The execution of the merger agreement and completion of the merger occurred on April 21st, 2011…
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
