Macrovision Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ: MVSN), a digital entertainment technology leader and Muze, Inc., a leader in entertainment information products and discovery services, today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Muze, Inc.
Consumer's options are increasing as entertainment becomes digital. They can now enjoy their movies, music or other digital content in more ways, including numerous options online and on portable devices. All of these choices lead to an increased need for enhanced search and discovery capabilities to help consumers find entertainment content that matches their personal preferences. This process is powered by entertainment metadata.
"Macrovision believes that professional entertainment metadata is required for our customers to provide best in class consumer facing products," said Fred Amoroso, President and CEO of Macrovision. "The addition of the Muze assets will complement Macrovision's data solutions. It represents continued execution on our vision of delivering solutions that power a uniquely simple home entertainment experience."
Macrovision's solutions are built to enable consumers to continuously explore digital content by allowing them to easily navigate and find entertainment information. This requires not only a rich library of entertainment metadata, but the detailed links within the metadata to expose the relationships between the content and artists, such as other albums or songs an artist may have contributed to. To deliver this level of detail, digital entertainment providers require a trusted data source.
"Macrovision's metadata is core to the entertainment experience of consumers around the world," said John Moakley, EVP of Macrovision's Data Solutions Group. "We believe the addition of Muze product and technology, including more metadata for European content, will result in a better solution for our customers by enhancing our overall metadata portfolio."
"Media information is more than an enhancement to a service, it's a necessity without which consumers would not be able to find what they are looking for," says Janice P. Anderson, Chairman and CEO of Muze. "Macrovision is acquiring a unified and consistent approach to managing entertainment metadata, enabling consumers to more easily search and discover entertainment products."
In connection with the acquisition, Macrovision will pay $16.5 million in cash consideration. The transaction is expected to close by the end of April and is subject to customary closing conditions. The Company expects the transaction to add approximately $5 million to its 2009 revenue estimates and to be slightly accretive to current 2009 Adjusted Pro Forma Earnings per Share estimates. As a result, the Company expects that its 2009 revenue will now range between $440 and $480 million and that its 2009 Adjusted Pro Forma Earnings per Share will continue to range between $1.15 and $1.45. As the full synergies of the acquisition are expected to be realized in 2010, the Company expects the transaction to contribute approximately $15 million and $0.10 to 2010 revenue and Adjusted Pro Forma Earnings Per Share, respectively.
About Macrovision Solutions Corporation
Macrovision Solutions Corporation is focused on providing a uniquely simple digital home entertainment experience by delivering solutions to businesses to protect, enhance and distribute digital goods to consumers across multiple channels. Macrovision's technologies are deployed by companies in the entertainment, consumer electronics, cable and satellite, and online distribution markets to solve industry-specific challenges and bring greater value and a more robust user experience to their customers. The result of deploying Macrovision's solutions is a simple end user experience for discovering, managing and enjoying digital content. Today, Macrovision provides connected middleware, media recognition, interactive programming guides, copy protection and rich media, data and metadata on music, games, movies and television programming. The company also operates an entertainment portal which can be found at http://www.allmusic.com. Macrovision holds over 4,000 issued or pending patents and patent applications worldwide.
Macrovision is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with numerous offices across the United States and around the world including Japan, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom. More information about Macrovision can be found at http://www.macrovision.com/.
About Muze, Inc.
Established in 1991, Muze provides solutions to businesses that enable search, discovery, sharing, and purchasing of entertainment products. Muze media information products and discovery services provide the foundation for making all types of entertainment products available on-demand anywhere, anytime, and are used by hundreds of companies worldwide to develop audiences and customers. Muze clients range from in-store and online retailers, portals, community sites, and auction sites, to consumer electronics manufacturers and mobile services providers, all of whom rely on Muze's rich entertainment content and digital sample services to support both physical and digital retail commerce. Muze is based in New York City with operations in North America and the United Kingdom.