Following a review of its strategic options, Ericsson will spin off its Media Solutions business as an independent video technology company.
One Equity Partners, a private equity firm with deep expertise in media and telecom investments, will acquire a 51% equity stake in the new company and Ericsson will retain 49% of the shares in the company. Media Solutions employees and contractors, as well as specified assets and liabilities, will transfer to the new company upon closing.
Angel Ruiz will continue to lead Media Solutions as the CEO of the new company.
Highlights of Media Solutions’ business include:
- TV platform used every day by over 18 million pay-TV subscribers in 26 countries and regulatory environments
- Enabling the delivery of digital media services to over 1bn homes globally
- Recording 3m video assets daily, with over 200 petabytes of time-shifted video storage deployed
- More than 100,000 events per second tracked by its combined analytics data warehouse
Red Bee Media
In addition, Red Bee Media (Ericsson’s former Broadcast and Media Services group) will continue to be developed as an independent and focused media services business. Legal separation from Ericsson is underway. Full-year 2017 adjusted operating income for Red Bee Media was SEK -0.3 b. Full year revenues were SEK 2.5 b. Ericsson said cost and efficiency improvements should help improve the business.
Börje Ekholm, President and CEO, Ericsson, says: “Media Solutions and Red Bee Media are leading providers of media products and services, and with the performance improvements that are currently being implemented, we see future upsides to both businesses. We are confident that the direction we announce today will enable us to create the best long-term value, for both our customers and our shareholders.”
