MANILA – Jollibee Foods Corp said Wednesday it would buy Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in a deal worth a total $350 million (P18 billion), the largest in its string of global acquisitions.
The Philippines' largest fast food operator said it would invest $100 million in a new Singapore-based holdings company to acquire 100 percent of the California-based specialty coffee chain.
“The acquisition of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf will be JFC’s largest and most multinational so far with business presence in 27 countries,” founder Tony Tan Caktiong said.
Shares of Jollibee were down 6.74 percent at the close of trading on Wednesday, against a 1.04 percent decline in the main index. Investors were worried over Coffee Bean's "lackluster" showing in the last 2 years, said Regina Capital head of sales Luis Limlingan.
"Even though it usually takes around 3 years for JFC to turn its acquired businesses around, it does add challenge considering that the firm is still in the midst of rationalizing Smashburger's operations," he said.
Smashburger is Jollibee's fast casual burger chain in the US that challenges Five Guys and Shake Shack.
Jollibee chases McDonald's, KFC world crown with acquisition binge
https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/01/08/19/jollibee-chases-mcdonalds-kfc-world-crown-with-acquisition-binge
The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf brand has 1,189 outlets as of December 2018, Jollibee said. It will add specialty coffee to the Jollibee stable which includes hamburgers, fried chicken, pizza and Chinese food.
Java Ventures LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jollibee Worldwide, will be the acquiring entity. It will also be a wholly-owned unit of the new holding firm, Jollibee said.
Last year, Jollibee took a 47-percent stake in Mexican chain Tortas Frontera, which serves pulled pork, chorizo and beef sandwiches with sides of guacamole and cilantro salsa.
Earlier in 2018, Jollibee invested P1.74 billion to acquire the Asia Pacific master franchise holder of Tim Ho Wan, famous for its barbecue pork buns.
In home turf, the company is expanding its portfolio that includes 3,000 Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwhich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal and Burger King stores.
In September 2018, Jollibee announced its 50-50 joint venture with the owners of Panda Express to bring the brand and its signature orange chicken to the Philippines.
In April 2018, Jollibee announced its investment in SuperFoods Group to bring the Vietnamese noodle soup chain PHO24 to the country.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK -- A private equity firm said Monday it was acquiring Gizmodo Media Group as well as the satirical news site The Onion for an undisclosed amount from New York-based Univision Communications.
Great Hill Partners said it would create a new company named G/O Media Inc. led by former Forbes and Ziff-Davis executive Jim Spanfeller, with a strong following among young internet users.
The investment firm said G/O would reach more than a third of all Americans online each month with some 100 million unique visitors to sites including the tech website Gizmodo, car culture site Jalopnik, the women's interest media property Jezebel and sports website Deadspin.
The deal also includes The Onion, founded as a satirical newspaper in 1988 focusing on parody news that is occasionally taken seriously on matters of politics and public affairs.
"This opportunity comes at a time when the entire digital media category is beginning to be recognized again for its unique ability to meet the diverse content and delivery needs of consumers and advertisers," said Spanfeller.
"As the largest player in our space, G/O Media is in an ideal position to capitalize on this dynamic, and I am excited to collaborate with a great team that boasts an incredible track record to further expand our reach, add value to our advertisers and enrich our visitors' lives."
Chris Gaffney, managing partner at Boston-based Great Hill, welcomed the deal for "an attractive suite of digital media assets ... with strong brand recognition among consumers and advertisers, and a set of engaged, vertical audiences which together are larger than Vox, BuzzFeed or Vice."
Univision, a Spanish-language broadcaster, acquired The Onion in 2016 and later that year acquired the news sites from the now-defunct Gawker Media at a bankruptcy auction.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
SAN FRANCISCO - Amazon.com Inc paid about $90 million to acquire the maker of Blink home security cameras late last year, in a secret bet on the startup's energy-efficient chips, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The deal's rationale and price tag, previously unreported, underscore how Amazon aims to do more than sell another popular camera, as analysts had thought. The online retailer is exploring chips exclusive to Blink that could lower production costs and lengthen the battery life of other gadgets, starting with Amazon's Cloud Cam and potentially extending to its family of Echo speakers, one of the people said.
Amazon views its in-house devices as key to deepening its relationship with shoppers. The Cloud Cam and Echo currently need a plug-in power source to operate. Blink, which says its cameras can last two years on a single pair of AA lithium batteries, could change that.
Amazon declined to comment on the acquisition's terms or strategy.
The deal so far has drawn little attention. The camera maker announced its takeover by Amazon with scant details in a Dec. 21 blog post. Analysts have viewed Blink as part of the retailer's strategy for Amazon Key, a new program where shoppers can set up a smart lock and surveillance camera so delivery personnel can slip packages inside their homes when they are away. Amazon also sees opportunity in the security camera market as smart-home technology expands.
But Blink was not merely a camera business. Its little-known owner, Immedia Semiconductor, was started in Massachusetts by old hands from the chip industry. Chief Executive Peter Besen and two of his co-founders came from Sand Video, which had designed chips in the early 2000s that decoded a new and improved video standard.
In 2004 they sold Sand Video to Broadcom Ltd and remained there as executives, according to an Immedia website. The group left in 2008 to create Immedia, aiming to design chips for video conferencing, and later targeting laptop makers as potential customers.
Dan Grunberg, a co-founder who left Immedia in 2016, said that plan fell through. Laptop makers were unwilling to pay $1 per chip when cheaper options were on the market. So Immedia pivoted.
"If we make our own camera, we don't have to sell a hundred million" chips, he said. Grunberg declined to discuss Immedia's sale to Amazon.
The Blink security camera, which hit the market in 2016, did not require a power cable like many rival products, making it easier to place around users' properties. It was cheaper, too, starting at $99. Amazon's wired Cloud Cam launched at $119.99, while Netgear Inc's wire-free Arlo cost more still. Netgear said last week it plans to spin off its Arlo business.
"Battery life is a big issue in connected devices," said Scott Jacobson, a former Amazon devices manager and now managing director of Madrona Venture Group. "Always-on cameras that last for months and don't require a wired connection or an electrician to install could be game-changing."
As Blink's sales rose on Amazon's website, the retailer took notice, sources said, leading to talks with the camera maker about a deal.
Flybridge Capital Partners, Comcast Ventures, Baker Capital, Dot Capital and some suppliers were investors in the company.
Amazon's regulatory filings show it spent $78 million on acquisition activity in the quarter ended Dec. 31. Sources said the bid was competitive, and that compensation and incentives offered by Amazon pushed the deal's value to about $90 million.
Madrona's Jacobson, who had no knowledge of the acquisition's details, speculated that Amazon might apply the Blink team's expertise to cameras in drones or in its new checkout-free stores.
The chips could give Amazon other advantages, too.
The proprietary chip design will make it harder for rival retailers to copy Amazon's devices, said Matt Crowley, chief executive of Vesper, a sensor and semiconductor company that makes microphones.
And now that Amazon owns its own chips, it can go straight to the manufacturers, cutting out middlemen chip designers such as Ambarella Inc, which has powered GoPro Inc products. Amazon has a division called Annapurna Labs that makes an unrelated kind of chip, and it was not clear which supplier it uses for chips that primarily process video.
"Vertical integration reduces cost," Crowley said. Digital video chips "are one of the more expensive components" in a camera.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
