Digital Sports Media Deal for Perform

A deal was closed this week between digital sports media firm Perform Group plc and American Business Journals Inc (ACBJ), a division of Advance Publications, which will see a new company Perform Sporting News Limited (PSNL) set up with headquarters in New York and sales and editorial teams in Charlotte, Chicago. According to the company, the new venture's purpose will be to boost Perform's direct to consumer scale and presence in the US and Canada, linking Perform's US and Canadian consumer and advertising businesses including its ePlayer sports video platform and football website Goal(.com) with the digital assets of ACBJ's consumer web division Sporting News. It will be 65 percent owned by Perform and 35 percent by ACBJ, and on completion, Perform will provide loans and cash equity of $1.4 million and ACBJ loans and cash equity of $4.2 million so the new company can cover its working capital needs. It has been envisaged that the combined business will have a reach of over 33 million average monthly unique users who will benefit from the work of 100 journalists, sales and technical staff whose task will be to provide news, editorial comment, video and statistics across eight sports. These will include the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and College Sports. However, the company specified that the Venture will not include Perform's ePlayer and Goal business outside the USA and Canada and its content distribution and subscription business in the USA and Canada. "We are excited to announce this partnership between Perform and ACBJ, which brings together the leading provider of online sports video and one of the US's flagship sports media brands. Perform Sporting News Limited is a fantastic opportunity to significantly scale and transform our business in the US and Canada, two of the world's largest and most advanced digital marketplaces, to become a major player in these territories,” said Oliver Slipper, joint chief executive officer of Perform, adding: “Together, we will bring the best news, editorial, video and data content of professional and College Sports to millions of sports fans in the US and Canada and provide advertisers with a complete digital sports offering across the web and mobile and across both video and display."