NYSE listed and French online games specialist Actiplay (ConcoursManiaGroup), announced this week that they acquired game publisher Telaxo. Telaxo is France’s #1 games publisher and one of the top 10 global games publisher on Facebook. This acquisition was rooted in Actiplay’s strategy to establish a significant business on social media. Increasing their presence on Facebook will help them acheive their two larger objectives of “bringing companies closer to their customers and rolling-out their gaming campaigns across all media.” From Actiplay’s perspective, the acquisition will also enable them to leverage Telaxo’s social media expertise to expand on other social media platforms, increase the audience for their b-to-b campaigns, and expand internationally more quickly and effectively.
Actiplay has clearly chosen to link-up with an expert in the area of social gaming as Orleans-based Telaxo has published 130 games on social media and built an audience of approximately 17 million active users per month. Achieving these milestones has enabled Telaxo to post healthy revenue growth, having hit 460€ k in 2011 (+ 87% on 2010) and approximately 40% opertaing margin. They’re now on track to almost double their revenues for 2012, reaching 800k€ for 2012.
Bordeaux-based Actiplay is a major player in online and casual gaming campaigns and game publishing. At the heart of their business is helping their clients (major companies such as Société Génerale, France Télévisions, and Vertbaudet) leverage the power of casual gaming to build their brands. By taking this decisive move toward social media, Actiplay is also likely responding (positively) to the increasing importance of social more generally and social gaming more specifically to their clients’ brands/business. Although Telaxo has been a small, albeit fast-growing, player in the sector, it’s evident that they’ve been able to punch above their weight and bring significant value to Actiplay.
Actiplay (ConcoursMania Group) acquires leading French game publisher Telaxo
Finance