The “united we stand” rule also rings true for e-mail and SMS. The latest example comes from Buongiorno. The Italian company, which sends newsletters via e-mail, today acquired 100 per cent of the Spanish company MyAlert, which specialises in sending announcements to mobile phones via SMS. The new rising star of Internet and wireless messaging can count on consolidated revenue that should reach €30-35 million in 2001, with 300 employees, 22 million users and a presence in nine countries, from Bulgaria to the United States.
The deal, estimated to be worth around €80 million, will be carried out through a share exchange: all the shares held by MyAlert’s current shareholders will be poured into Buongiorno’s capital, and will then hold around 33 per cent of the new company. For Jorge Mata, founder and shareholder of MyAlert, who must now leave his role as CEO to become vice president of Buongiorno, the convergence between Internet and wireless is a path that must be taken. “This union was an indispensable choice,” observes Mata, “in order to create a really strong European group”.
Buongiorno will now have to compete with the European titan Vizzavi, the pan-European mobile Internet portal owned by Vodafone-Vivendi, and with other players such as the German company 12snap and the Italy’s Acotel.
MyAlert, which has around 2 million subscribers to its wireless platforms, between July and December 2000 managed to collect considerable funding, of around $45 million. Among the main investors are the German company Brokat, which produces e-commerce software, the American IT house Broadvision, the Spanish press agency Europa Press, the electricity company Endesa and the venture capital company 3i.
But Buongiorno also has prestigious shareholders, including Marco Tronchetti Provera’s finance company Camfin, the foodstuffs company Barilla and the bank San Paolo Imi. And it is the Turin-based credit institute itself that will take care of Buongiorno.it’s listing plan.
“The company will probably be listed on Milan’s Nuovo Mercato between the end of this year and the start of 2002”, specified Mauro Del Rio, president of Buongiorno, “but our main objective is to integrate as best we can our e-mail platforms with those of MyAlert”. The Spanish company’s wireless portal is based on Broadvision’s push technology.
Buongiorno’s principal sources of income are advertising and the services they provide to Internet portals and telecoms companies. Its main clients include: Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM), Omnitel, Wind, Accenture and Edisontel. From MyAlert, it will gain clients such as Telefonica, Adecco and Broadvision.
Buongiorno was founded in 1995 on the initiative of Mauro Del Rio, a young manager originally from Parma. Newsletters began to really take off in 1999 when Buongiorno.it reached 40,000 subscribers. It now has over 18 million users and produces more than 5 editorial services in five languages besides Italian.
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