M&A Deal Summary

News Corp Acquires Harlequin Enterprises

On May 2, 2014, News Corp acquired publishing company Harlequin Enterprises from Torstar for 455M CAD

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is News Corp’s 1st transaction in the Publishing sector.
  • This is News Corp’s 8th largest (disclosed) transaction.
  • This is News Corp’s 1st transaction in Canada.
  • This is News Corp’s 1st transaction in Ontario.

M&A Deal Summary
Date 2014-05-02
Target Harlequin Enterprises
Sector Publishing
Buyer(s) News Corp
Sellers(s) Torstar
Deal Type Divestiture
Deal Value 455M CAD

Target

Harlequin Enterprises

Don Mills, Ontario, Canada
website
Harlequin is a publisher of books for women. The Toronto-based company publishes more than 110 titles a month in 34 languages in 110 international markets on six continents. These books are written by over 1,300 authors worldwide, offering women a broad range of reading from bestseller fiction to romance, from young adult novels to nonfiction, from African-American novels to inspirational romance, and more.

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Buyer(S) 1

Buyer

News Corp

New York, New York, United States

website

Category Company
Founded 2012
Sector Media
Employees25,500
Revenue 10.4B USD (2022)
DESCRIPTION

News Corp is a diversified international media and entertainment company with operations in eight industry segments: filmed entertainment; television; cable network programming; direct broadcast satellite television; magazines and inserts; newspapers; book publishing; and other. The activities of News Corporation are conducted principally in the United States, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Basin. News Corp was formed in 2012 and is based in New York City.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 15 of 24
Sector (Publishing) 1 of 2
Type (Divestiture) 3 of 6
State (Ontario) 1 of 1
Country (Canada) 1 of 1
Year (2014) 1 of 3
Size (of disclosed) 8 of 14
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2013-12-20 Storyful

Dublin, Ireland

Storyful discovers, verifies, acquires and distributes timely and relevant video and user-generated content to its partners. Storyful also provides social media dashboards, real-time discovery tools, feeds and analytics to its customers, allowing them to integrate video into their news or advertising efforts via online and mobile platforms and to monitor social conversations and sentiment.

Buy €18M
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-09-30 Move

San Jose, California, United States

Move, Inc. is a provider of online real estate services, operates realtor.com®, which connects people to the essential, accurate information needed to identify their perfect home and to the REALTORS® whose expertise guides consumers through buying and selling. As the official website for the National Association of REALTORS®, realtor.com® empowers consumers to make smart home buying, selling and renting decisions by leveraging its direct, real-time connections with more than 800 multiple listing services (MLS) via all types of computers, tablets and smart telephones.

Buy $950M

Seller(S) 1

SELLER

Torstar

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

website

Category Company
Founded 1892
Sector Publishing
Revenue 543M CAD (2018)
DESCRIPTION

Torstar Corp. is a broadly-based media company that publishes a daily newspaper, six regional daily newspapers in Ontario including The Hamilton Spectator, and more than 70 weekly community newspapers in Ontario; flyer distribution services: and digital properties including thestar.com (with local editions in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Halifax), wheels.ca, toronto.com, save.ca, a number of regional online sites and eyeReturn Marketing. Torstar Corp. was established in 1892 and is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 4 of 4
Sector (Publishing) 3 of 3
Type (Divestiture) 4 of 4
State (Ontario) 1 of 1
Country (Canada) 1 of 1
Year (2014) 1 of 1
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 2
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2008-07-13 Eyereturn Marketing

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Eyereturn Marketing, Inc. provides unified campaign control, empowering brands through consolidated attribution-based results in a single dashboard. Breaking free from walled gardens, Eyereturn has done away with layers of intermediaries, providing actionable data and insights across search, social, and display campaigns. Eyereturn Marketing is based in Ontario, Toronto.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2015-07-29 VerticalScope

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

VerticalScope is a technology company that has built and operates a cloud-based digital platform for online enthusiast communities in high-consumer spending categories. VerticalScope’s mission is to enable people with common interests to connect, explore their passions and share knowledge about the things they love. VerticalScope was founded in 1999 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Buy -
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