Mindtree to buy Magnet 360

Mid-size IT services firm Mindtree Ltd has inked a definitive agreement to acquire Magnet 360, a Salesforce.com platinum consulting partner, for $50 Million in cash, in a move at addressing the cloud based services market. The deal amount includes an upfront payment of $37 Million and earns out and additional payout of up to $13 Million over the next two years.

With the acquisition of Magnet 360, Mindtree will add more than 100 certified Salesforce experts and help clients digitize back end values chains. This acquisition will strengthen their offerings in digitizing the value chain and building sense and respond systems. Founded in 2008, Magnet 360 specializes in Multi-clouded solutions providing consulting services and implementation, mainly to media/entertainment, manufacturing and finance industries. It is operational mainly in the US.

The company has been a Salesforce partner since 2004. Salesforce, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud and others are trademarks of Salesforce.com. Magnet 360 works with companies across Salesforce solutions such as CRM, branded sites and communities, social campaign strategy and management and marketing automation. Salesforce had invested in Magnet 360 along with StarTec Investments and Gage Group.

The company is headquartered in Minneapolis with Offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Its revenue was about $25 Million in calendar year 2015. Bangalore based Mindtree counts Nalanda Capital, Global Technology Ventures and V G Siddhartha led café Coffee Day Group as its shareholders.

Star India acquires Screen

Star India is an Indian Media and entertainment company, owned by 21^st Century Fox. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Star India portfolio includes 48 channels in eight languages. Recently, Star India entered into an agreement with Indian Express Group to acquire film magazine ‘Screen’. Founded in 1951, Screen also owns a popular film awards franchise by the same name.

As part of the transaction, Star will get exclusive ownership of the Screen brand franchise, including all archival material and transfer of key employees. The screen acquisition will yield huge benefits for Star India and Hotstar app, the digital platform. Star has built one of the largest media and entertainment organizations in the country, reaching over 700 million viewers with nearly 40 channels in seven languages.

Screen, with a circulation of nearly 15,000 copies per week, will publish its last print edition this week as Star India takes the entertainment weekly online to be a part of its recently launched digital initiative Hotstar. Hotstar launched on 1 February, is a mobile application that offers more than 35,000 hours of content in seven languages, promising viewers a big library of movies, television shows and even live sports (cricket, football, tennis, and kabaddi).

The deal is estimated to be in the range of Rs 30 crore to Rs 40 crore. The acquisitions means Star now owns the popular screen awards. Last month, Star India acquired Telugu television channel Maa TV in its largest acquisition in India, in a deal estimated to be in excess of Rs 2000 Crore. Hotstar has 35-40 advertisers across various categories including Coca Cola, Nissan, Nestle, and Airtel, as well as e-commerce companies like Snapdeal and Flipkart.

News Corp buys VCCircle

News Corporation is an American multinational mass media corporation headquartered in New York City. It was the second largest media group in 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world’s third largest in entertainment in 2009. VCCircle is an Indian Information services group with presence in online business news, data, events, and training for private equity and venture capital fund managers.

VCCircle currently employs about 100 people and is owned by the New Delhi headquartered Mosaic Ventures Private limited with offices in Noida, Mumbai, and Bangalore. The company is recently acquired by News Corp. This was the third investment of News Corp in India. It had previously invested in financial advisory start-up firm BigDecisions.com and realty portal PropTiger.com. News Corp had acquired all networks of VCCircle which includes VCCircle.com, Techcircle.in, VCCEdge, and VCCircle Training.

The VCCircle acquisition builds on News Corp recent digital investments in India. In November, News Corp acquired a 25 percent stake in PropTiger.com, India’s leading online residential real estate platform. In December, News Corp acquired Big Decisions.com, which aims to help Indian consumers make smarter financial decisions through interactive, decision making tools powered by sophisticated algorithms and data.

News Corp also has a presence in India through its Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal, and Harper Collins Publisher Business. News Corp is a global, diversified media, and information Services Company focused on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content to consumers throughout the world. The company comprises business across a range of Media.