NEW YORK, Oct. 24, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Dada S.p.A. (MTAX of the Italian Stock Exchange: DA.MI), a leader in the Web and mobile community and entertainment sector, has today finalized an agreement for the acquisition of Tipic Inc., a leading international player in the blog community segment, through its subsidiary Dada USA Inc. The purchase and addition of Tipic's technology will increase Dada's technological assets and user base, with a view to optimizing the convergence between Dada's strengths in the Web and mobile spaces.
Tipic, headquartered in New York City, is well known for its Splinder brand (www.splinder.com), a top blog leader in Italy and one of the richest resources for user generated content in the Italian market. Tipic's Motime brand (www.motime.com) is the U.S. counterpart, and a leading blogging service in the same segment within the American market.
Tipic currently manages approximately 220 thousand active blogs and counts 320 thousand registered users with an addition of almost 12 thousand new users per month. The company also has over 5.2 million monthly unique visitors and registers 35 million page views per month.
"Our strategic acquisition of Tipic aims at key segments of the Internet that we feel offer the greatest opportunities for growth in the coming years, consistent with the worldwide consolidation currently taking place in the social networking and user generated content segments," said Massimiliano Pellegrini, CEO of Dada USA Inc.
The purchase of Tipic is the second recent purchase of an American based mobile service provider by Dada in the last three months. Dada's recent purchase of Upoc Networks in August 2006 was made to enhance its rapidly growing U.S. presence. Upoc's significant social community user base and established text messaging technology complements Dada's profile matching, community and mobile entertainment suites.
About Dada S.p.A.
Dada S.p.A. (dada.dada.net) is the leading Italian provider of Web and mobile community and entertainment services and heads a Group of companies all offering Web solutions. Dada is listed on the Italian Stock Exchange (MTAX STAR: DA.MI). Among its shareholders are RCS MediaGroup, having about 43% of the share capital, and Dada management and founders having about 14.6%.
The consumer offering of Dada -- expressed through the community Dada.net (www.dada.net) and the brands Life.dada.net, Mobi.dada.net and Love.dada.net -- is characterized by a rich range of pay "Community and Entertainment" products and services, accessible via the Web and mobile devices -- through the SMS/MMS channel and the presence on the micro-portals of the main mobile phone operators. In addition to Italy, the Dada consumer offering is available in the USA, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Austria, China, Brazil and Australia.
About Dada USA Inc.
Based in New York City, Dada USA (www.dada.net) is the wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Dada S.p.A. Dada USA provides a suite of mobile products and services subdivided into three brands. Life.dada.net provides a social networking service that supports subscriber created blogs, pictures, and video. Dada USA's mobile entertainment products, ringtones, wallpapers, and games can be purchased through the Mobi.dada.net brand. Love.dada.net is a profile matching service that allows subscribers to peruse profiles on their wireless device.
About Tipic Inc.
Based in New York City, Tipic Inc.develops network independent instant messaging platforms based on open protocols for wired and wireless devices. Focused on security, scalability and usability, Tipic's products allow customers to reduce development, administration and training costs eliminating the risk of lock-in into closed protocol solutions.