Zingy, the U.S. mobile content company known mainly for being an early ringtone pioneer, is buying out its sister company Vindigo…both of them were bought out by Japanese mobile content biggie For-Side.com, last year.
The company says it is now a broad-based mobile media company. Zingy has been profitable since 2003, and even with the absorption of less-stellar Vindigo, it is still in profits. Zingy has about 130 employees.
It will now concentrate on four specific areas: personalization; entertainment; information; and community, said Zingy CEO and Founder Fabrice Grinda, in an interview.
Vindigo has about 45 employees, and most of them will be retained. Vindigo founder and CEO Jason Devitt left the company June 30, after about six years of running the company. Vindigo CTO Bob Fitterman will now be Zingy’s CTO.
Most of Vindigo-branded services, like Vindigo City Guide, will retain the name.
This was one of the several company Zingy considered acquiring, said Grinda, at least for now. It is not ruling out other acquisitions.
There has been some talk from the parent company For-Side of rolling up U.S. operations (the group’s U.S. companies also include 411-SONG, Waymobile and Proteus), with Zingy as the main brand, though Grinda refused to speculate on that move. He did say that the IPO option remains open for Zingy, though he hinted that it probably won’t happen anytime within the next few months (as this Forbes.com story says).
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