ComScore and Rentrak to Merge, Creating Leading Cross-Platform Measurement Company
Combination of Measurement Leaders Paves Way for New Cross-Platform Ratings Currency; Expands Choice for Television and Advertising Industries
Reston, VA, and Portland, OR(30 Sep 2015)
ComScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) and Rentrak Corporation (NASDAQ: RENT) today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will combine in a stock-for-stock merger.
Pursuant to the terms of the merger, which has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, Rentrak will merge into a wholly-owned subsidiary of comScore, and each share of Rentrak will be converted into the right to receive 1.15 shares of ComScore. Upon completion of the merger, comScore shareholders are expected to own approximately 66.5% and Rentrak shareholders are expected to own approximately 33.5% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis.
Combined Company Management Team and Governance
ComScore's current Chief Executive Officer, Serge Matta, will lead the combined company as CEO. Dr. Magid Abraham will remain as the Executive Chairman of the Board. Bill Livek, Rentrak’s current Vice Chairman & CEO, will serve as the company’s Executive Vice Chairman & President. Mel Wesley will continue as the Chief Financial Officer, and David Chemerow, Rentrak’s current COO & CFO, will serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO, focused on the successful integration of the two companies. The new company will also draw upon the collective talent at both companies to harness the experience and expertise of each organization to redefine the future of measurement. The combined company’s board will consist of twelve directors – eight from ComScore and four from Rentrak.
Strategic Rationale
By combining comScore and Rentrak’s products, talent and significant information assets, the new company will provide even more robust measurement solutions to the media and advertising industries, following the consumer whenever and wherever content is consumed.
The combination will enable the company to introduce a more comprehensive and precise set of solutions for measuring media consumption and advertising across platforms, setting the standard for the next generation of cross-platform measurement solutions. Together, ComScore's industry-leading digital audience and advertising solutions, combined with Rentrak’s census-based worldwide movie and video-on-demand measurement, and its massive and passive TV measurement offerings, will provide a more complete picture of the way people consume media today and in the future. The combined organization is expected to possess a unique breadth of knowledge, experience, expertise, and skill sets that cannot be duplicated, dramatically enhancing the range of capabilities and offerings for clients and the industry.
“The merger of comScore and Rentrak represents an exciting milestone for our combined clients, uniquely skilled employees and shareholders,” said Matta. “Together we have an even more powerful ability to deliver what our clients and the media industry have long been asking for: a comprehensive cross-platform measurement currency that accounts for all the ways in which content is consumed, whether that happens on a desktop, mobile device, live or time-shifted TV, video on demand or through over-the-top devices.”
“With the advent of digital technology, the time has come to offer the cross-platform measurement systems of the future: through which content owners will ultimately be able to quantify their entire audience, and agencies will have access to the cross-platform metrics needed to effectively plan and execute campaigns,” Matta said. “This merger also recognizes the critical importance of combining digital and TV assets for next generation media measurement, which requires a higher degree of precision at both a national and local market level.”
“Both companies have been innovators in content and consumer measurement, advanced demographics and analytics, providing the industry with world-class digital, TV and movie consumption information. This merger will accelerate the pace of that innovation, and offer an improved solution for cross-platform measurement, not available anywhere else,” Livek said. “Rentrak’s expertise in precisely measuring TV and movies, and comScore’s industry-leading digital measurement capabilities, are natural complements. Combined, our expertise and information assets will enable us to provide the industry with the most granular measurement solutions that reflect the ever-changing way that people are consuming content across platforms.”
“Bill Livek and his team have built a cutting-edge media measurement company that has moved our industry forward in many ways, and we could not be more excited to welcome them to the ComScore family,” said Abraham. “We look forward to working with Bill and his team as we bring our companies together to create the most comprehensive set of measurement solutions available, delivering on our mission of making audiences and advertising more valuable.”
Financial considerations
ComScore expects the transaction to be mildly dilutive to its Non-GAAP EPS in 2016, and accretive in 2017. The combined company is expected to have total synergies of at least $20 million in 2016 and at least $35 million in 2017. The company also anticipates a significant portion of the synergies to be revenue related which it expects to grow over time with an attractive contribution margin.
Approvals and Time to Close
The transaction is subject to shareholder approval of both companies, along with customary regulatory closing conditions, and is expected to be completed by early 2016.
Advisors
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as financial advisor and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati acted as legal advisor to ComScore. Goldman, Sachs & Co. served as financial advisor to and Perkins Coie LLC acted as legal advisor to Rentrak.
Live Conference Call and Webcast
ComScore and Rentrak will host a brief conference call about the announcement today, Tuesday, September 29, 2015 at 5:30 p.m. EDT. Those interested in participating via telephone should dial (844) 848-8734 (toll free) or (678) 562-4248 (international). A live broadcast of the discussion will be available on the Investor Relations pages of the comScore (ir.comscore.com) and Rentrak (rentrak.com) websites.
About ComScore
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Reston, Virginia, ComScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global media measurement and analytics company that makes audiences and advertising more valuable. comScore helps media buyers and sellers understand and make decisions based on how consumers use different media, such as TV, video, mobile, desktop and more. Through its products and partnerships, ComScore helps its more than 2,500 clients understand their audiences, know if their advertising is working, and access data where they want and need it.
About Rentrak
Rentrak (NASDAQ: RENT) is the entertainment and marketing industries' premier provider of worldwide consumer viewership information, precisely measuring actual viewing behavior of movies and TV everywhere. Using our proprietary intelligence and technology, combined with advanced demographics, only Rentrak is the census currency for VOD and movies. Rentrak provides the stable and robust audience measurement services that movie, television and advertising professionals across the globe have come to rely on to better deliver their business goals and more precisely target advertising across numerous platforms including box office, multiscreen television and home video. For more information on Rentrak, please visit www.rentrak.com.