J2 Global Closes 4 Acquisitions

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 Internet services company J2 Global Inc. finished up 2020 on a buying spree.

The downtown-based company announced Jan. 6 that it had completed four acquisitions in the final quarter of the year, including the purchase of Austin, Texas-based online deal-finder RetailMeNot Inc.


The company also scooped up San Antonio, Texas-based educational technology company Inspired eLearning, as well as Waltham, Mass.-based digital marketing company Aberdeen Group and Denmark-based cloud services business Logiva A/G.


The acquisition of RetailMeNot was announced in September with a deal price of $420 million. Financial terms of the other acquisitions were not disclosed.


In a statement, J2 Global Chief Executive Vivek Shah said the online coupon business would be a valuable addition to the company’s stable of internet services brands.


“We are excited at the prospect of adding RetailMeNot, and their talented employees, to our portfolio of brands dedicated to helping consumers save money and find deals, while delivering performance marketing solutions to retailers and brands,” Shah said in September.


In a November call with investors, Shah said he had spent years watching RetailMeNot’s business, waiting for an opportune time to reach an acquisition deal.


“The acquisition of RetailMeNot puts us at an entirely new level,” he said, pointing out that the online platform drives roughly four times the retail sales generated by J2 Global brands.


J2 Global was founded in 1995 and has made mergers and acquisitions a key part of its business strategy. According to the company, it has spent more than $3 billion on nearly 200 acquisitions since 2000. The company manages a list of more than 40 brands, including Mashable, IGN, PCMag, Humble Bundle and Speedtest.


J2 Global’s website said the four acquisitions completed in the last quarter were among at least eight undertaken throughout 2020.


In its most recent quarterly earnings report, J2 Global indicated it had brought in $357 million in revenue in the third quarter of 2020, up 3.7% from the corresponding period in 2019. The company said it expected to achieve revenue of around $1.4 billion for the entire year.

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