MTG completes Zoomin buy-out

Scandinavian media group Modern Times Group (MTG) has increased its stake in digital content company Zoomin.TV to 100% in a deal worth a total of €17m (US$20m).

Jan Riemens

MTG upped its stake in Zoomin from 51% by acquiring the remainder of the company’s shares from Adversa Media Groep.

Adversa is controlled by Jan Riemens, CEO and chief financial officer of Zoomin.TV, who co-founded the company.

MTG, which had an agreement to take complete control of the company as part of its 2015 deal, is paying €6.2m for the outstanding shares and is also settling Adversa’s €11.3m of shareholder loans to Zoomin.TV.

The move comes three years after MTG acquired its initial 51% of Zoomin.TV from Riemens and co-founder Bram Bloemberg.

It was part of a series of deals that signalled a shift in strategy for MTG, as the company expanded its digital and eSports interests by buying into companies such as ESL and Splay.

Earlier this year, MTG revealed it was splitting its business in two, with its eSports and digital video content interests making up one division and its broadcast, streaming and production interests in the other.

Zoomin.TV is headquartered in Amsterdam and has 16 offices on four continents. It uses around 3,500 freelance video journalists to produce digital video content that the company claims generates around 3.2 billion views every month.

Over the past year Zoomin.TV has struck deals with Facebook for its Watch service and agreed a partnership with Tencent in China to offer its content in the country.