Livingly Media, publisher of Lonny, StyleBistro and Zimbio, has been acquired for $25 million, assumption of debt, and an EBITDA-driven earn-out (that could increase total consideration to approximately $50 million) by Aufeminin, a media company majority-owned by German media group Axel Springer.
Lonny team
Based in Silicon Valley with offices in New York City and San Francisco, Livingly properties have generated organic growth of 40% in 2014, with revenue of approximately $15 million and an audience of over 28 million unique visitors. The company's content received more than 15 million Facebook referrals per month in 2014 and its three titles currently have 2.6 million social followers. Together, aufeminin group and Livingly Media will reach over 7 million followers on social networks worldwide and represent an aggregated multi-device audience of 148 millions visitors per month.
Aufemini hopes the acquisition will position the company as a major player in the United States, after the launch in 2013 of wewomen, a platform dedicated to fashion, beauty, psychology and fitness.
Livingly founders Tony Mamone and Danny Khatib
Livingly Media was started in 2006 by Stanford business school graduates Tony Mamone, former Senior VP of Sales at LookSmart, and Danny Khatib, former Digital Media Manager at AOL Time Warner.
"We’re thrilled to join the aufeminin group, whose deep digital media expertise and support will accelerate our strategy, which is focused on captivating audiences on mobile, desktop, and social platforms with unique content experiences, and selling native sponsorships and programmatic advertising," said Mamone, who is the CEO of Livingly Media.
"This acquisition is a new step in our international strategy. Tony, Danny and their team have developed a unique expertise in building and monetizing audience from social platforms, half of it coming from mobile," said Marie-Laure Sauty de Chalon, CEO of the aufeminin group. Their expertise offers real advantages, as in 2014 for the first time, our mobile audience outstripped the desktop audience. We are thrilled to welcome them in our family."
