AdultShop.com Buys Loop Wireless

Written by Adam Gosling

Thursday, 16 March 2006

Porn purveyors AdultShop.com have acquired Perth developer Loop Wireless the company behind Hutchison Three’s social networking community Kink Kommunity. The conditional agreement will help Loop Wireless fast track its international expansion of Kink Kommunity in the US and European markets. As part of the acquisition AdultShop.com will provide Loop with an interest free loan of $1.5 million in working capital to fund the expansion. As reported by mobilised, Kink chief executive Gavin Bullen is currently in London negotiating with Three UK to launch the service to Hutchison’s 4 million 3g mobile phone subscribers in the United Kingdom. Kink Kommunity, announced as the Best Mobile/Wireless product at the Australian Interactive Media Industry Awards, has been available to users of Hutchison's 3 network since October 2005. Users pay a monthly fee to access interactive, web-like content via their mobile phones, with much of the content generated by users themselves, such as photos, videos and commentary -- all moderated by Loop Wireless. By mid 2006 the company aims, in a world first, to join Australia and UK Kommunity members in an integrated and real-time social networking forum. The acquisition is part of a strategy for AdultShop.com to develop business outside its traditional adult-oriented content. In addition to its 3G mobile social networking product, Loop Wireless offers other content products, including mobile comics and mobile AFL products. However, a key feature to the acquisition is the mobile platform delivery expertise the Perth Developer has accumulated in the provision of the existing Kink Kommunity service which no doubt will cum in useful to the acquiring company which has an established video-on-demand service using streaming video technology on the Internet. Terms of the acquisition if it proceeds, will see Loop Wireless become a wholly owned subsidiary of AdultShop.com in return for the issue of 20 million ordinary AdultShop.com shares plus an additional 80 million performance shares which will be converted into a maximum of 80 million ordinary AdultShop.com shares over the next 2 years, subject to Loop achieving a combined net profit after tax of $3 million or more during the period. "This acquisition will further allow Loop to bring our 3G mobile social networking product to a more global community," said Loop Wireless's CEO Gavin Bullen. "The expertise we have developed to moderate and produce the content, as well as understanding what works with our target audiences, will prove invaluable in expanding our offering beyond Australian users." After initially incurring losses, AdultShop's share of which are not expected to exceed $500,000, for the period from acquisition to 30 June 2006, the company forecasts a net profit after tax in excess of $1 million for the year ended 30 June 2007 and of $2 million the year after according to an ASX filing. AdultShop.com shares were up 8.4 per cent at press time. Related news items Seven In Unwired Takeover Bid -26/09/2007 Nokia E51: Smarter Than It Looks -19/09/2007 Telstra Launches Another Coonan Attack -12/09/2007 Doh! Phone Pirate Could Get Five Years -17/08/2007 Free iBurst Broadband In Sydney -16/08/2007 Newer news items MobileActive Is In The House -09/08/2006 SMS Surveys Get You On The Run -13/07/2006 Office Integrated With Ericsson One Phone -06/06/2006 Mobile Payments Plan For US -06/04/2006 Mobile LAN With Internet Access -31/03/2006 Older news items Vodafone Delivers Microsoft Email To Australian Market -12/03/2006 MICROSOFT MOBILE EMAIL ANNOUNCED -12/02/2006 EMAIL ON ANY MOBILE PHONE -24/01/2006 POCKET PROJECTOR RUNS ON BATTERY -09/11/2005 CENTRINO TO WORK WITH PROPRIETARY CISCO EXTENSIONS -19/10/2005 Tag This Now: