hongkong.com Corporation, a China mobile applications, online games and Internet services company, today announced its intention to acquire Go2joy (Beijing He He Technology Company Limited), a mobile applications and services provider in China, from another subsidiary of its parent company, chinadotcom corporation.
With the addition of Go2joy, the company is expected to develop further synergies within the hongkong.com Group in the mobile applications arena.
Under the transaction agreement, hongkong.com will pay chinadotcom no more than HK$467 million (US$60 million) to acquire a 100% stake in Go2joy from chinadotcom. The actual amount of the payment will be determined pursuant to an earn-out formula based on Go2joy's financial results over the next two years.
Since adding Go2joy to the chinadotcom group in May this year, synergies have begun to develop between Newpalm and Go2joy, including joint product development and joint promotional activities of Newpalm's interactive voice response ("IVR") products through Go2joy's distribution platform. Further synergies are expected to be developed by leveraging upon Newpalm's local connectivity with provincial mobile operators and Go2joy's exclusive mobile payment and TV partnerships in relation to the offering of mobile value added services to China Mobile's users.
Go2joy is an IVR and SMS (text message) services provider with TV and mobile payment service partnerships in China. Recently, Go2joy launched its services on Channel 5, a TV sports channel on China's state-owned national television station, through Beijing Yang Shi Information Technology Co. Ltd. ("Beijing Yang Shi"), an interactive media service provider that partners with China's state-owned national TV station. The services launched on Channel 5 provide the latest news and games related to a variety of sports, including the most popular European soccer leagues, live reports on NBA scores, golf and volleyball matches as well as other sporting highlights.
In addition, Go2joy has the capability to offer a mobile payment service ("Mobile Wallet") for Internet-related services through partnership with Union Mobile Pay Ltd. ("UMP"), a joint venture between China Mobile and China UnionPay Co., Ltd. Mobile Wallet is the official mobile payment platform authorized by China Mobile to handle third party collections of non-mobile related services and also provides a convenient payment gateway for mobile users and innovative payment solutions for merchants.