NEW YORK—In its first acquisition since spinning off from parent Time Warner Inc., AOL announced on Monday that it acquired online video creation site StudioNow Inc.
The deal for the Nashville, Tenn.-based company is valued at $36.5 million in cash and stock, according to the company.
StudioNow is a Web site that sells online videos made by freelance filmmakers, animators, and voice over talents. AOL said it would integrate the video creation platform into its Seed.com content management system. Seed.com is in charge of distributing AOL’s online content.
“Premium original video creation is a fundamental part of AOL’s strategy to offer consumers world-class, stimulating content at scale and the integration of StudioNow into Seed.com will enable us to increase our video content/offerings significantly,” said AOL chief Tim Armstrong in a statement.
StudioNow had been named in the AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies List, a list of the nation’s top emerging privately held businesses.
“StudioNow and AOL share a passionate commitment to high quality content, services, and technology and that makes us a natural fit for this new partnership,” said StudioNow’s co-founder and CEO David Mason in a statement.
AOL is transforming its businesses from a dial-up Internet service provider to an online content provider and advertising portal, which relies on interactive media content, and the StudioNow acquisition seems to fit that strategy.
Exodus of Talent
Also on Monday, AOL confirmed that Chief Technology Officer Ted Cahall is leaving the company, after denying it last week when the news first broke.
Last week, AOL veteran Grant Cerny, vice president of Entertainment, Living & Real-time Products, left the company after spending more than five years at AOL. He joined social software start-up company KickApp. KickApp designs and implements social media applications for a variety of platforms.
Cahall and Cerny’s exodus is the latest in a string of executives leaving AOL. AOL Lifestream Platform head Frank Gruber and Advertising executive Eric Bosco also recently left the company.
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