Digital Turbine Inc. (Nasdaq: APPS), a mobile technology company, has completed its previously announced stock-for-stock merger with Appia Inc., the previoulsy Durham-based mobile user acquisition network.
Finalizing the merger took three months. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Digital Turbine was known as Mandalay Digital and was located in Los Angeles when the deal was announced in November.
At closing, Appia shareholders received approximately 19 million shares of newly issued Digital Turbine stock, or approximately 33 percent of the combined company.
Appia’s founder and CEO Jud Bowman and Executive Chairman Craig Forman have been appointed to Digital Turbine’s board of directors, resulting in eight members total.
Bill Stone, Digital Turbine’s CEO, called the deal a “transformative merger” in a statement. He said it “Creates a single, unique, mobile app and ad ecosystem across Android and iOS for Digital Turbine.”
“This vertical integration adds immediate scale for accelerated advertising revenue growth and elevates Digital Turbine’s competitive positioning. Our vision to create the largest independent ecosystem for app distribution is realized, enabling global reach of advertisers and direct control of ad tech capabilities, further enhancing our ability to execute. In addition, we expect significant revenue synergies and cost savings for the combined company, Stone said.
“Since the announcement of the merger last November, we have already seen evidence of the synergies generated by the combination of Appia’s unparalleled advertising network with Digital Turbine’s end-to-end app install platform,” stated Jud Bowman, founder and CEO of Appia.
Bowman is well known in the Research Triangle as a serial entrepreneur in mobile app technology.
Digital stock closed down about 5 percent at $3.73 Tuesday. The combined company plans to share its 2016 business outlook March 19.
www.ditialturbine.com
