Reliance (Still) Scouting For Mobile Content Acquisitions In U.S.; How About Yahoo?
This story was written by Rafat Ali.
Reliance ADA, the scary-big Indian telecom/media/energy giant which is already making strides in Hollywood through its Dreamworks deal, has been looking for mobile content deals in U.S. for some time now, and WSJ helps with the scouting with a longish story on its ambitions. It is looking at mobile game publishers and other kinds of mobile entertainment firms, with the intent to "exploit its expertise in telecom and get exposure to a segment of the cellphone industry that promises high growth, the story says. NO specific deals have been lined up yet, though one could expect companies like Glu Mobile (NSDQ: GLUU), Digital Chocolate (has been on the block for a long time now), and Hands-On Mobile (which has been disposing of international units to focus on U.S.) as targets. The deals are being explored Jump Games, Reliance's mobile gaming unit.
Besides these middlemen-type deals, the company is also looking to license content directly from major brands, which it can then distribute through its huge base in India, the reasoning goes. Will its experience be any better than the doomed Japanese and Korean mobile content forays into U.S. market starting five years ago? Index, For-Side and Cybird tried, and bought a slew of companies, only to end up selling them off or closing them a few years later. Reasons then were lack of common language and work culture, complexities of working with the walled-garden operators then, and the lack of consumer adoption with slower networks. Now, some of those issues have gone away....
Now here's a wilder thought: What about looking at bigger online deals in U.S.? Reliance has the money and the capability to raise a lot more...how about making a run at Yahoo? Better than Disney buying Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO). Wait, you haven't heard about Dubai Government looking to buy Google? Settle down, just speculatin'..
By Rafat Ali