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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
Leading Mobile Content Company 9 Squared Acquired By Monstermob Group PLC
DENVER, CO, Aug. 31, 2004 - 9 Squared, Inc., a leading mobile content provider, today announced the agreement for acquisition by British company Monstermob Group, the provider of entertainment content for mobile phones, effective immediately. Monstermob paid $2,949,563 cash upfront for 100% of the share capital of 9 Squared Inc. on August 25, plus a maximum deferred consideration of 22,017,856 Monstermob shares to be paid on completion on 1 March 2005. The deferred amount is dependent on 9 Squared's fourth-quarter financial performance.
"The Monstermob deal provides 9 Squared with significant resources and experience to solidify our vision of being a worldwide mobile content player," said James Eberhard, CEO and Founder, 9 Squared. "We're recently launched products in Latin America and Asia, and needed a partner like Monstermob to enter the explosive Western European market."
Based in Denver, 9 Squared has established a recognized brand name with its highly successful direct to consumer website, www.ringtonejukebox.com, and provides mobile entertainment products and services to various leading US and international mobile network operators on the Code Division Multiple Access ("CDMA") technology platform under the RingTone JukeBox(tm),
mTat2(tm) and Great American Country(r) brand names. In addition to ringtones, 9 Squared provides other mobile content such as phone games and wallpapers.
9 Squared has created a catalog of more than 6,000 pieces of mobile content through negotiations with more than 275 music publishers, record labels, game developers, image providers and film studios.
"Our acquisition of 9 Squared, a company that has proven success in the US, Latin America and Asia, represents an important step toward establishing Monstermob as the #1 mobile content provider globally," said Martin Higginson, CEO, Monstermob. "With the addition of 9 Squared, Monstermob will respectively provide mobile entertainment applications directly to consumers and through mobile network operators throughout our operating territories in Europe, North and South America and Asia."
9 Squared is in the process of rolling out a subscription based ringtone application on China Mobile, which is the largest mobile network operator in the world with over 160 million subscribers. In other parts of Asia, 9 Squared is in the process of providing its RingTone JukeBox(tm) and
mTat2(tm) applications to a number of international carriers. The company recently launched in Thailand and expects to launch in several other Asian markets over the coming 3 months. 9 Squared is currently providing its
mTat2(tm) and RingTone JukeBox(tm) applications in a number of Latin American countries including Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru and expects to be live in 16 Latin American markets by the end
of 2004. In Europe, 9 Squared is supplying Zapp, a Romanian carrier with
its RingTone JukeBox(tm) application and will provide solutions to other carriers in Europe once Qualcomm begins providing CDMA coverage.
Currently, US network operators Alltel, US Cellular, Western Wireless, MetroPCS and Cricket feature these applications on their portal sites. CDMA is a cellular technology originally developed by Qualcomm that competes with GSM cellular technology worldwide. CDMA mobile network operators currently service 50% of all US subscribers - approximately 85 million users.
About 9 Squared
9 Squared, based in Denver, Colorado, is a global leader in developing and aggregating entertainment-based content for mobile phones. 9 Squared acts as a liaison to the wireless entertainment marketplace and offers the ability to reach millions of wireless subscribers worldwide. 9 Squared's proprietary technology and branded applications allow for delivery to more than 870 million handsets on CDMA, TDMA, and GSM networks utilizing protocols such as J2ME, SMS, MMS, WAP, and BREW. 9 Squared operates one of the strongest mobile entertainment catalogues (including ringtones, video games, applications, and graphics), as well as develops and manages partner co-branded/white label e-commerce sites.
About Monstermob
Monstermob Group plc is a UK mobile phone entertainment content provider whose shares were admitted to trading on the Alternative Investment Market
(AIM) of the London Stock Exchange on 24 November 2004. Monstermob reported turnover of £13.9 million and profits before tax of £1.5 million in its preliminary results to the year ended 31 December 2003.
Monstermob markets differentiated and easily accessed mobile phone entertainment and personalisation services. These include ringtones, java games, colour wallpapers and videos as well as community chat and competition products. The Company focuses on products that appeal to the most prolific adopters of mobile content - the 14-30 age group. Monstermob has more than 320,000 subscription customers as well as a database of over six million mobile telephone numbers of customers. Monstermob is the exclusive provider of non-network mobile content to Dixons Group, which markets Monstermob's products through its network of stores. Other partners include Dialaphone and certain mass-circulation magazines and web partners.
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