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Sony Pictures Television Acquires Majority Stake in IMS

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has signed an agreement to acquire a 51% stake in Internet Media Services (IMS), one of Latin America's largest ad sales and media buying firms in the digital space. Sony will pay approximately US $100 million for a 51% stake valuing IMS at approximately US $200 million. The deal is expected to close in several weeks pending regulatory approval.Gastón Taratuta will continue as CEO; Ignacio Vidaguren as COO; Maren Lau as CMO; and Mariano Roman as CCO.

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What: Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has signed an agreement to acquire a 51% stake in Internet Media Services (IMS), one of Latin America’s largest ad sales and media buying firms in the digital space. Sony will pay approximately US $100 million for a 51% stake valuing IMS at approximately US $200 million.The deal is expected to close in several weeks pending regulatory approval.Gastón Taratuta will continue as CEO; Ignacio Vidaguren as COO; Maren Lau as CMO; and Mariano Roman as CCO. There are no significant  changes planned in the way IMS manages its business.
Why it matters: 10 year-old IMS is one of the main players in the Latin American digital media placement business, if not the main one. With the IMS purchase, Sony Pictures Television gains substantial relationships with key accounts in the region in the fast growing digital media category.

d64203c83eb0f0ee77dfaa9a2a95c342_400x400 sonypictures_logo_400x400Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in IMS Internet Media Services (IMS), one of Latin America’s largest ad sales and media buying firms in the digital space.  The agreement was announced  by Andy Kaplan, president of worldwide networks for SPT, and Gaston Taratuta, CEO, Founder and Partner for IMS.  The deal is expected to close in several weeks pending regulatory approval.

IMS is the largest independent digital ad sales company in Latin America and the largest digital media buyer in the region.  Headquartered in Miami, the company also has offices in eleven countries throughout the region.  Current commercial partnerships include Waze, Twitter, LinkedIn, Spotify, Crackle, iAds and Foursquare, among others. Taratuta will continue as CEO; Ignacio Vidaguren as COO; Maren Lau as CMO; and Mariano Roman as CCO.  No   significant changes to the business are currently planned.

CHECK OUT: Analysis-Making Sense of Sony Pictures Television’s Acquisition of IMS

Double Digit Growth in Digital Media

The digital ad sales outlook for Latin America is poised for double-digit growth over the next five years, in a region where mobile connections already surpass 120% of the population.  According to the IMS Mobile in LatAm study in conjunction with comScore, more than 60 percent of users of mobile apps such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Spotify and Waze consider that these are very important in day-to-day life.

“Gaston and his team are experts in the digital space and they have created a fantastic business across Latin America,” said Kaplan.  “With the sector growing exponentially and evolving quickly, we’re looking forward to working together to grow our collective businesses”  Additionally, Kaplan added, “we will integrate practices and intelligence with our networks and ad sales teams in the region and globally, making this an excellent extension of our current business”

“SPT combines powerful programming with an international infrastructure and a leading leadership team” noted Taratuta. “We look forward to the synergies these will bring to joint initiatives within Latin America and new regions.”

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