- Companies aim to increase monetization
of QuizUp through cross-promotion, advertising, and new television
show
- Glu has option to acquire the company
at pre-agreed price
Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU), a leading global developer and
publisher of free-to-play games for smartphone and tablet devices,
today announced that the company will invest up to $7.5 million in
promissory notes convertible into a minority equity stake in Plain
Vanilla Corp. Based in Reykjavik, Iceland, Plain Vanilla is the
developer behind the globally popular game QuizUp, which boasts
more than 40 million registered users and 5 billion games played.
Launched in November 2013, QuizUp became at the time the fastest
growing app on the App Store ever. Daily users spend on average
more than 30 minutes per day on the app.
Glu and Plain Vanilla plan to join efforts to focus on the
development of the QuizUp television program. Under development in
partnership with NBC Universal and previously announced at Cannes
in October 2015, the companies hope to bring the QuizUp show to TV
viewers worldwide. The program format will be centered around
audience interaction and is expected to drive significant downloads
of the QuizUp mobile app.
“With over 40 million registered users and counting, QuizUp is a
global trivia phenomena that is developing into an interest-based
social network. I look forward to joining QuizUp’s Board of
Directors and sharing Glu’s deep expertise in advertising, in-app
purchase optimization, analytics and user acquisition. Having
focused thus far on building a large and engaged user base, QuizUp
will now benefit from Glu’s involvement to begin driving effective
and sustainable monetization,” said Niccolo de Masi, Glu Chairman
and CEO.
“In addition to cross-selling opportunities between Glu's games
and QuizUp's user-generated interest groups, we are excited that
Plain Vanilla is in development with NBC around what we expect will
be an innovative new game show.” de Masi continued, “If our
partnership proves out and QuizUp revenues scale, Glu will evaluate
whether to exercise its call option to acquire the business.”
“In 2015 alone, QuizUp became a trivia network focused on social
interaction, opened its topic creator to its entire user base, and
announced both NBC’s and ITV’s order of the primetime trivia show,
QuizUp America,” said Thor Fridriksson, founder and CEO of Plain
Vanilla. “We look forward to leveraging Glu’s publishing
resources and expertise to expand QuizUp’s audience through
new mobile and multimedia initiatives this year.”
QuizUp’s transformation from a mobile trivia app to an interest
based social network positions it to benefit from growth in myriad
industries and interest areas. The introduction of My QuizUp has
extended the platform’s use cases to communities for classrooms,
companies, sports teams, and the entertainment industry. Plain
Vanilla is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions
including Nordic Startup of the Year 2014, a TechCrunch “Crunchy”
for Fastest Rising Startup 2014 and a “Webbie” for Best Mobile App
of the Year 2014.
As part of this investment, Niccolo de Masi is joining the Board
of QuizUp and Glu has a call option to acquire Plain Vanilla for 15
months from the closing of the initial investment at a pre-agreed
price. The companies intend to partner in monetization of QuizUp’s
sizable and diversified global audience of daily active users
through cross-promotion, increased in-game advertising and new game
features.
Download QuizUp on the App
Store http://apple.co/1NiT99I, Google
Play http://bit.ly/1Jg9rW7, Amazon
Appstore http://amzn.to/1n8doBF, and Windows
Phone http://bit.ly/1PouwKi.
Cautions Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements”
related to the business of Glu Mobile Inc., including statements
regarding: Glu and Plain Vanilla aiming to increase monetization of
QuizUp through cross-promotion, advertising, and a new television
show; that Glu and Plain Vanilla plan to join efforts to focus on
the development of the QuizUp television program and that the
companies hope to bring the QuizUp show to TV viewers worldwide;
the expectation that such show will be centered around audience
interaction and is expected to drive significant downloads of the
QuizUp mobile app; that QuizUp is developing into an interest-based
social network; Mr. de Masi’s joining the QuizUp board of directors
and sharing Glu’s deep expertise in advertising, in-app purchase
optimization, analytics and user acquisition; QuizUp benefiting
from Glu’s involvement to begin driving effective and sustainable
monetization; potential cross-selling opportunities between Glu’s
games and QuizUp’s user-generated interest groups; the expectation
that the QuizUp show will be an innovative new game show; that Glu
will evaluate whether to exercise its call option to acquire the
business if the partnership proves out and QuizUp revenues scale;
that QuizUp may leverage Glu’s publishing resources and expertise
to expand QuizUp’s audience through new mobile and multimedia
initiatives; QuizUp’s transformation from a mobile trivia app to an
interest based social network positioning it to benefit from growth
in myriad industries and interest areas; and the companies’ intent
to partner in monetization of QuizUp’s sizable and well-balanced
audience of daily active users through cross-promotion, increased
in-game advertising and new game features. Such forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties,
including, but not limited to, the risk that we do not realize the
expected benefits from our partnership with Plain Vanilla Corp.,
including that we are unable to capitalize on the QuizUp app’s
large number of registered users, the QuizUp brand, cross-selling
opportunities between Glu’s games and QuizUp’s user-generated
interest groups or QuizUp’s interest-based social network platform;
the risk that the show under development with NBC Universal never
airs or fails to generate the benefits the parties expect; the risk
that consumer demand for smartphones, tablets and next-generation
platforms does not grow as significantly as we anticipate or that
we will be unable to capitalize on any such growth; the risk that
we do not realize a sufficient return on our investment with
respect to our efforts to develop free-to-play games for
smartphones, tablets and next-generation platforms; and the risk of
product delays. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or
will be described in greater detail in our public filings with the
SEC. Glu is not under obligation to (and expressly disclaims any
such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
About Glu Mobile
Glu Mobile (NASDAQ:GLUU) is a leading global developer and
publisher of free-to-play games for smartphone and tablet devices.
Glu is focused on creating compelling original IP games such as
CONTRACT KILLER, COOKING DASH, DEER HUNTER, DINER DASH, DINO
HUNTER: DEADLY SHORES, ETERNITY WARRIORS, FRONTLINE COMMANDO,
RACING RIVALS, TAP SPORTS BASEBALL and TAP SPORTS FOOTBALL, and
branded IP games including KIM KARDASHIAN: HOLLYWOOD, KATY PERRY
POP, JAMES BOND: WORLD OF ESPIONAGE, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE
NATION, and SNIPER X WITH JASON STATHAM on the App Store, Google
Play, Amazon Appstore, Facebook, Mac App Store, and Windows Phone.
Glu’s unique technology platform enables its titles to be
accessible to a broad audience of consumers globally. Founded in
2001, Glu is headquartered in San Francisco with major U.S. offices
outside Seattle and in Long Beach, and international locations in
Canada, China, India, Japan, Korea, and Russia. Consumers can find
high-quality entertainment wherever they see the ‘g’ character logo
or at www.glu.com. For live updates,
please follow Glu via Twitter at www.twitter.com/glumobile or become a Glu fan at
www.facebook.com/glumobile.
CONTRACT KILLER, COOKING DASH, DEER HUNTER, DINER DASH, DINO
HUNTER: DEADLY SHORES, ETERNITY WARRIORS, FRONTLINE COMMANDO,
RACING RIVALS, SNIPER X, TAP SPORTS BASEBALL, TAP SPORTS FOOTBALL,
GLU, GLU MOBILE and the 'g' character logo are trademarks of Glu
Mobile Inc. or its subsidiaries.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160121005149/en/
Media Contacts:Glu Mobile Inc.Jason Enriquez,
415-800-6263PR@glu.com
Glu Mobile (NASDAQ:GLUU)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2024 to Oct 2024
Glu Mobile (NASDAQ:GLUU)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2023 to Oct 2024