Catena Media, which is listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange and has annual revenues of over £35m, was the successful bidder in a sale that will safeguard the jobs of Squawka’s UK-based team.
Founded in 2011, Squawka produces award-winning editorial and social media content to entertain and engage lovers of the beautiful game.
Famed for its data tools and high quality graphics, Squawka reaches more than five million football fans a day in over 200 counties and territories. Its team of journalists and creatives produces more than 130 pieces of content a day, and their multimedia output enjoys a huge following among millennial football fans.
Squawka’s popularity and profile helped its content attract more than 2.5 billion views in 2016 alone, and enabled it to secure advertising campaigns from global brands like Virgin Media, Barclays, Dominos, Adidas and Deezer.
Catena Media paid £1m to acquire the Squawka website, app and related assets – as well as its sister brand, the fantasy sports site Matchboss.
The new owners intend to leverage Squawka’s huge user numbers – and its 800,000 twitter followers – to add additional revenue streams and drive substantial growth for the business.
Catena expects the acquisition to generate annual sales of approximately £1.75m a year, with an estimated 60% margin.
Henrik Persson Ekdahl, Acting CEO, Catena Media, explained:
“We see potential for Squawka as a high-volume traffic site with a global audience, to which we look forward to implementing an affiliation business model. The company has invested in automatic data feeds for their user-friendly graphical interfaces, which is something we aim to integrate into other Catena Media products.
“Squawka will sit alongside our existing brands, increasing our coverage in the football vertical while entering the upcoming sports year.”
David Birne, insolvency partner at HW Fisher & Company, added:
“Squawka’s huge success in building a loyal following of football fans enabled it to earn significant revenue from advertisers, but not enough to achieve its full potential.
“As administrators, HW Fisher was appointed to help Squawka secure its future. We’ve done so by brokering its sale to a brand with the expertise, pedigree and ambition to take Squawka on to the next level.
“Catena Media has a world-class reputation for building successful affiliate sites, and we are confident that powered by additional sources of revenue, Squawka will grow both its reach and profitability.”
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Notes to Editors
For more information, please contact Jack Izzard of Rhizome Media on 0203 7557617 or jack@rhizomemedia.co
About Catena Media
Catena Media plc is an online performance marketing company that has established a leading position through strong organic growth and acquisitions. The business was started in 2012 and the group has approximately 245 employees in the US, Australia, Japan, Serbia, UK, and Malta, where the Head Office is situated. In 2016, revenues reached approximately EUR 40 million. The company is listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap index.
About HW Fisher & Company
HW Fisher & Company is a medium-sized firm of Chartered Accountants within the top 30 in the UK. Founded in 1933, the practice comprises 35 partners and 320 staff. The firm is arranged as a series of partner-led departments covering a full range of dedicated industry groups, which are steadily expanding to meet the changing needs of its clients.
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