Two private equity firms have paid $350 million to buy a controlling stake in Bigpoint Games, a German company with a large and growing San Francisco office, from a couple of institutional investors who invested several years ago in the pioneer of browser-based gaming.
TA Associates and Summit Partners, which among other places have offices in Menlo Park and Palo Alto, respectively, are buying a controlling block of shares held by Comcast Interactive Capital’s Peacock Equity Fund, GMT Communications Partners and GE.
Bigpoint founder and CEO Heiko Hubertz will continue to hold a 30 percent interest. Bigpoint opened its San Francisco office about a year ago and has about 100 employees in the city, where it plans to hire an equal number over the coming year, Hubertz said recently. Worldwide, the company has about 700 people.
The company has been selling virtual goods for eight years. Hubertz said revenue is more than $200 million, more than double the previous year, but he would not be specific.
In June of 2008, GE/NBC Universal’s Peacock Equity Fund bought a 35 percent stake in Bigpoint for roughly $40 million on a $110 million valuation. Comcast and NBC merged earlier this year.
Megumi Ikeda, executive director of Comcast Interactive Capital, said the Bigpoint investment produced an "excellent return."
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