Viggle Inc. has purchased GetGlue for $25 million in cash and 48.3 million shares in stock, with the goal of making the merged companies the dominate force in social TV. Together, the two companies will have more than 4 million users.
Viggle stock was up 10.81 percent in early trading Monday, to $1.23 a share. That makes the value of GetGlue's stock payout nearly $60 million.
Viggle Inc., a reward-based site that launched in January, will operate both brands. GetGlue founder and CEO Alex Iskold will join Viggle in a senior executive position on its management team and as a member of its Board of Directors. Viggle will also hire all 34 GetGlue employees.
"With this deal, we are combining very experienced and creative product, engineering and management teams that will continue to build great user experiences and provide industry leading platforms for consumers, networks and advertisers," said Viggle CEO Robert F.X. Sillerman. "We will also be vastly increasing the Viggle user base and quadrupling our network partnerships."
“We are very excited to join forces with Viggle! GetGlue has built a Social TV product that people love, and Viggle has become their favorite loyalty program for TV," Iskold said. "Together we are positioned to deliver the next generation second screen experiences that delight and benefit users, networks and major brands.”
New York City-based GetGlue, founded in 2007, enables users to tell friends what they're watching, track their favorite shows, and find videos, images, and links. It has more than 3.2 million registered users.
Viggle has 1.2 million registered users who receive points for loyalty and engagement. They can redeem points from businesses including Best Buy, Amazon, Fandango, Hulu Plus and iTunes.
The deal is only the latest for Sillerman, whose SFX Entertainment also recently purchased the electronic dance music companies Disco Donnie Presents and Life in Color. He said SFX expects up to 50 additional deals to come to fruitiion in the near future.
