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This one comes as an unusual acquisition, where a media start up acquires brands and businesses of an already established media player. Media start-up 9.9 Mediaworx Pvt. Ltd, launched by Pramath Raj Sinha, the former chief executive of media company ABP Pvt. Ltd and also a former principal of McKinsey in India, has acquired the brands and businesses of Jasubhai Digital Media (JDM).
The value of the acquired business is not known. JDM will be rechristened 9.9 Digital Media and Sinha will be its new managing director. The acquisition includes the firm's leading print publications such as Digit (an end-user computing magazine), Skoar (a gaming magazine), The CTO Forum (a magazine aimed at chief information officers and chief technology officers), Logistics 2.0 (a quarterly magazine targeted at chief executive officers /logistics heads of manufacturing companies) and Industry 2.0 (a technology management magazine).
“We believe that the media industry in India is in its infancy and niche and sharply-targeted media brands, such as those of JDM, have exponential growth opportunities,” Sinha has been quoted as saying. Established in 1967 by group chairman Jasu Shah, the Jasubhai Group will continue to have an interest in the business through an undisclosed financial stake in 9.9 Media. JDM achieved revenue of close to Rs 30 crore last year. The Type I business, offering wide ranging content and technology solutions to organisations in the US, Europe and Asia, is also part of the acquisition.
9.9 Media has been programmed into five businesses, 9.9 Insights, 9.9 Digital, 9.9 Print, 9.9 Ventures and 9.9 Studio. Sinha started the company with three former colleagues, Asheesh Gupta (formerly CEO, Hero Mindmine and vice-president, strategy, at ABP), Anuradha Das Mathur (formerly with the Indian associate of the EIU and Businessworld) and Vikas Gupta (formerly head of marketing of Coca-Cola India and chief marketing officer at ABP). They're also looking to invest in the newspaper space, and will be raising funds for growth. The company has tie-ups with Sao Paulo based Jai Group and NDTV Profit.
JDM infrastructure and experience will enable Media works leverage monetizing niche content across media platforms and events and building new integrated media plays across many more verticals, which is the core focus and strategy position of 9.9 Insights, part of the 9.9 Media Group.
The question still remains who is the financial backer of 9.9 Mediaworx.