SAN JOSE, Calif.—TiVo parent company Xperi has acquired Vewd Software Holdings Limited for $109 million through a mixture of cash and debt. Xperi says the acquisition will expand its TiVo brand in the connected TV market and give the company access to an installed European footprint of approximately 15 million devices that can be enabled for monetization, including activation of TiVo+, a free ad-supported TV service.
Vewd’s OTT and hybrid TV solutions ship in more than 30 million connected TV devices annually. Xperi says adding Vewd to its portfolio will help establish the company as a "leading independent streaming media platform through its TiVo brand and the largest independent provider of Smart TV middleware globally."
Founded in 2002, Vewd Software Holdings Limited—with its main offices in Norway, Sweden, Taiwan and Poland—is an independent OTT software provider for Smart TV makers, connected car and video-over-broadband operators. Over 450 million connected TV devices have shipped with Vewd Smart TV Solutions from the likes of Amazon, Commscope, Hisense, Nintendo, Sagemcom, Skyworth, Sony, Swisscom, TCL, TPV Phillips and Vestel.
In December 2021, Vewd filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a deal that would exchange $118 million in debt for equity as part of a restructuring plan filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Vewd said the filing would not interfere with the company’s operations.
“Xperi’s TiVo product offerings, when integrated with Vewd’s suite of streaming platform solutions, will help accelerate and scale the deployment of TiVo OS for connected TVs and expand our video-over-broadband offerings,” said Jon Kirchner, chief executive officer of Xperi. “Vewd’s global reach and expertise in providing support to content owners, TV OEMs, and SoC partners as they deploy middleware and OS solutions across various devices is tremendously valuable and further paves the way for additional monetization opportunities as we expand our global footprint of streaming devices.”
“The acquisition of Vewd also strengthens the growth outlook of our product business as we prepare to separate our IP and product businesses this fall. We expect incremental revenue of $10 million in the second half of this year, followed by substantially higher revenue and a positive EBITDA contribution in 2023,” added Kirchner.
“We’re excited to join the Xperi family and look forward to combining the experience, skills and scale of both organizations to deliver new innovations for our clients. Together, we’re set to deliver more engaging experiences to the millions of viewers globally who enjoy TV shows, sports, and the movies they love through our platform,” said Aneesh Rajaram, Vewd’s chief executive officer.
Xperi, which said the transaction will add approximately 275 employees, announced that the Vewd management team will continue to lead the business and will be integrated into Xperi’s management structure.
