Bitzio, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a letter of intent to acquire Motion Pixel Corporation Holdings, Inc. (“MPC”), an animation studio with operations in the U.S., Latin America and India.
Upon a successful closing of the acquisition, MPC will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bitzio and will likely be renamed “Bitzio Media, Inc”. MPC’s management team brings 15 years of experience working together developing high-end media solutions for global markets and brands along with a team of 35 animators, developers and managers based in Costa Rica.
While the exact terms for the acquisition will be announced after closing, the acquisition is expected to be completed using only restricted common shares and no cash from Bitzio. Upon closing, the MPC management team has agreed to invest over 1.25 mn USD to purchase Bitzio common shares and reserves the right to invest up to an additional 1mn USD by May 30, 2012. A block of options will be reserved for key MPC staff members and the entire MPC team will be incented to earn both stock and cash bonuses by driving very significant revenue and securing key sports and entertainment properties during the initial 12 months after closing.
William Schonbrun, President and CEO of Bitzio, commented, “When we look at some of the most downloaded, top grossing apps, like Farmville or Mafia Wars from Zynga, Angry Birds from Rovio, Infinity Blade from Epic Games, or any of the football, soccer or golf games from EA, they all have something in common – beautiful graphics and animation.”
“We believe the addition of the MPC team and animation studio will put Bitzio in position to compete directly for market share, reach and revenue with the top app developers in the world. This acquisition cements another piece of our global strategy and brings more amazing leadership and talent into Bitzio. Their focus and skills will create the foundation for the next generation of super apps we develop and market under our ‘Bitzio’, ‘ThinkingDrone’ and ‘FreeTheApps’ brands.”
“The MPC team brings amazing relationships with Bollywood stars, major sports franchises, top athletes including Indian cricketers, and world renowned soccer clubs and their stars. Together we hope to leverage those contacts and prior working relationships with brands like Nissan, Trident and Powerade for significant new revenue streams for Bitzio. Working with MPC elevates Bitzio to the global stage and opens up new avenues to work with Fortune 100 brands, world class athletes and movie stars as ways of creating more reach for our brands, our apps and our developers’ apps, William added.
Manny Bains, CEO of MPC commented, “Our existing animation studio and development hub in Costa Rica is the perfect way for Bitzio to scale – and this is really the final piece of the puzzle to bring these great teams together. Costa Rica is only 1 or 2 time zones away from any place in the U.S. and has incredibly deep creative talent pools. We believe we will be able to scale these existing operations up very quickly as the Bitzio strategy shifts into growth mode in the coming quarters.”