Function(x) Adds to Media Portfolio with Acquisition of BumpClick

SANTA MONICA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / March 14, 2017 / Consumer appetite for content is as voracious as ever and showing no signs of relenting, as content is devoured by consumers globally at a blistering pace every minute of the day. The figures, as forecast in a Cisco whitepaper, are mind-numbing, with total internet traffic likely topping a
zettabyte, or one billion trillion bytes, in 2016. To put that in terms a little easier to comprehend, that’s over 110 million years of high-definition video.

In even simpler terms: content is king and distribution is a queen of equal power.

Function(x), Inc. (NASDAQ: FNCX), led by media mogul Robert FX Sillerman, is aggressively building a portfolio of assets in a bid to corral viewers and capture as much of that market as possible. The owner of Wetpaint.com, a hotspot for entertainment news popular with millennial women, said on Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire the complete equity interest in the media company, BumpClick LLC. BumpClick leverages its technology and industry relationships to maximize distribution and generate revenue through its network of websites and more than 60 million social followers.

The BumpClick assets join a Function(x) portfolio that includes Wetpaint.com, the digital marketplace platform Choose Digital, and Rant, Inc., the parent of the popular site RantSports.com acquired by Function(x) last July. Since acquiring Rant, Function(x) has broadened the brand to cover additional topics, such as lifestyle, fitness, tech, and celebrities.

Also in the Function(x) diversified digital media bag is majority ownership in DraftDay Gaming Group, the owner of fantasy sports site DraftDay.com.

According to an 8-K filed with the SEC on Wednesday, Function(x) is acquiring BumpClick for $10.0 million in cash and $15.0 million in stock. $6.0 million of the stock payment is going to be held in escrow for release only upon achievement of certain performance criteria.

Function(x) is buying several key components for their growth plan. In addition to its legacy holdings, BumpClick just finalized the acquisition of ViralNova, LLC, including the flagship property http://www.viralnova.com, a cynosure in viral video circles. With the acquisition, ViralNova will be under the Function(x) umbrella, along with all other BumpClick social assets and a proprietary content management system and reporting software dubbed “Nova.”

Sean Beckner, the founder and CEO of BumpClick, has agreed to assume a senior management position within the Function(x) organization once the BumpClick acquisition is completed.

“We believe that the synergies between our two companies are substantial, and when combined with Sean’s expertise and experience, this acquisition will be instantly accretive to our business,” said Sillerman, Executive Chairman and CEO of Function(x), in a news release on the acquisition.

Separately, Sillerman last week converted $36,964,000 of Preferred Equity into FNCX common stock at a price of $2.34 a share, resulting in the issuance of 15,796,489 shares to Sillerman’s affiliates.

Considering the stock price was substantially lower at the time of conversion, the move is a strong sign of the commitment of Sillerman to grow Function(x) into a preeminent digital media platform.

“With these conversions, I am able to deliver upon a promise that I made to investors when we set out on this journey,” said Sillerman in a press release on the matter. He continued, “With the conversion of my preferred equity we can begin the acquisition program that is core to our long-term strategy.”

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SOURCE: Online Media Group, Inc.

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