Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has acquired a majority stake in mobile content company Jamba, known as Jamster in the UK.
News Corporation has acquired a 51% stake in Jamba, the company behind the Crazy Frog, in a deal believed to be worth $187.5 million.
News Corp bought the stake in Jamba from owners VeriSign, who purchased Jamba in 2004 for around $273 million.
News Corp purchased online social networking site MySpace last year and will use Jamba to enable MySpace users to download content to their mobile phones. In addition, Jamba will offer exclusive mobile content from The Simpsons.
Jamba is perhaps best known for the Crazy Frog ringtone, whose spin off single hit the top of the charts last year.
Peter Chernin, News Corp president and chief operating officer, said: “This is an important step in News Corp.’s strategy of becoming the world’s leading digital media company.
“We’re the most powerful media company on the web with Fox Interactive Media, our aggressive digital content deals have given consumers access to News Corp programming on every conceivable platform and we have already demonstrated innovation in this emerging space with the Mobisode and Mobizzo.”
Stratton Sclavos, VeriSign’s chief executive officer, said: “We are excited to combine our unique mobile entertainment expertise and direct to consumer assets with one of the most forward-thinking media companies in the world.
“We look forward to working with News Corp to create compelling, interactive services that make an impact on the next generation of wireless users.”
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