South Korea’s tech behemoth Samsung Electronics is at final stages of talks concerning the acquisition of US-based software venture Mspot a year since it started working level discussions. This deal will mark Samsung’s very first takeover of a software firm, and is estimated to cost roughly 10 billion won ($8.84 million).
Samsung Electronics will finalize talks and soon be announcing its acquisition of Mspot and entry into cloud-based contents services within the month, said industry sources Friday.
MSpot is a California-based tech company specializing in cloud services for movies, music, and other multimedia contents. It currently offers real-time streaming service for various contents on more than 30 types of smartphones including Samsung’s Galaxy S, Apple’s iPhone, and RIM’s Blackberry, and is named an up and coming rival to Netflix, the leading online movie provider in the US.
Samsung’s interest in Mspot stems from its desire to offer cloud computing services for its smartphone, tablet PC, smart TV, and PC devices. The Korean tech company hopes to establish a Samsung data ecosystem that allows online viewing of multimedia contents across all Samsung devices much like Apple’s iTunes or iCloud. This technology will also be used to expand Samsung’s hold in the file-sharing services involving video and game contents.
A Samsung official confirmed that the company was currently at the final stages of a possible buyout talk, but refrained from commenting further.
Samsung has been eagerly eyeing the M&A (mergers and acquisitions) market since it decided to shift its main focus from hardware manufacturing to software contents. The company’s shift towards software will accelerate with the acquisition of Mspot, as Samsung seeks other useful merger targets and starts hiring more software experts.
[Written by Dong-in Lee – Samji Chung]
[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]
