Disney is now home to more than just the Magical Kingdom. It’s now home to social gaming juggernaut “Playdom,” which has been formally acquired by Disney for a whopping $763 million.
According to a joint press release, Disney agreed to buy Playdom as a way of advancing its goal of bringing consumers its well-known stories, characters and brands in ever more engaging ways.
To be sure, it isn’t an exaggeration in the least to reference Playdom as one of the leading companies in the fast-growing business of online social gaming. Playdom engages an estimated 42 million active players each month.
All told, Disney stands to gain for the expensive purchase by strengthening its “already-robust digital gaming portfolio,” by providing consumers new ways to interact with the company on ubiquitous social networks like Facebook and MySpace.
“We see strong growth potential in bringing together Playdom’s talented team and capabilities with our great creative properties, people and world-renowned brands like Disney, ABC, ESPN and Marvel.” said Robert A. Iger, President and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. “This acquisition furthers our strategy of allocating capital to high-growth businesses that can benefit from our many characters, stories and brands, delivering them in a creatively compelling way to a new generation of fans on the platforms they prefer.”
Financial terms of the deal indicate that Playdom shareholders will receive total consideration of $563.2 million and a “performance-linked earn-out” roughly valued in the $200 million ballpark.
