Melbourne IT announced today it has acquired VeriSign's Digital Brand Management Services for US$50 million, effective May 1.
Melbourne IT announced today it has acquired VeriSign's Digital Brand Management Services for US$50 million, effective May 1.
This is a significant acquisition that will significantly boost
Melbourne IT's scale and market share in the digital brand protection
and performance market. The VeriSign DBMS business and Melbourne IT's
existing Corporate Brand Services division will be integrated to create
the global number one digital brand services company. The combined
business will help enterprise clients to manage, monitor, protect and
optimise the performance of their digital brands.
Some of the brands currently under management by Melbourne IT's CBS
division include Microsoft, Qantas, GlaxoSmithKline, Parmalat, Volvo,
Electrolux, HSBC, ABSOLUT, IKEA, LEGO and Toyota. The combined company
will have over 2,500 premium clients and manage over 450,000 domain
names. Combined global revenue is expected to be $45 million in 2008
spread throughout Europe (50%), Americas (40%) and the Asia Pacific
(10%).
"We firmly believe that the importance of the internet as a medium for
business, communications and marketing will continue to develop and
that digital brands will form the cornerstone of e-commerce
transactions within this critical medium.
"By acquiring the DBMS business from VeriSign we will boost our current
Corporate Brand Services division to number one position in this
growing global market. We have seen some consolidation in this arena in
the past 12 months and we wanted to decisively position Melbourne IT as
the leading global provider in this field.
"Melbourne IT already has a market leadership position in this space in
the Asia Pacific region and Europe. The acquisition of VeriSign DBMS is
expected to quadruple our current enterprise client base, provide a
leading market position in the Americas and deliver a 200% increase in
the number of digital brands managed on behalf of our clients," said Mr
Theo Hnarakis, Melbourne IT CEO and Managing Director.
Mr Hnarakis added "Our combined Digital Brand Services division is
expected to manage brands for over 2,500 corporations, and provide
global coverage for our clients with local service via more than 200
staff across 14 offices in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific
region."
A presentation from Melbourne IT on the acquisition is available at corporate.melbourneit.com.au/news/newsfile.php?docid=270.
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