Fenwick & West LLP represented Flixster, Inc., producer of the world’s largest online movie community, in its recently announced acquisition of film reviewing site Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster acquired Rotten Tomatoes from IGN Entertainment, an online video game and entertainment subsidiary of News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA). The combination of Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes reaches a global movie audience of an estimated 30 million monthly visitors worldwide across multiple platforms: on the Internet, through web-based social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and iGoogle, and via mobile apps for the iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Palm Pre devices. IGN Entertainment received a minority equity stake in Flixster as part of the acquisition, but financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition was announced on January 4, 2010.
The Fenwick transaction team included corporate attorneys Ted Wang, Greg Roussel, Alicia Ryan, Edgar Tirado and Adam Jacobwitz; executive compensation and employee benefits attorneys Scott Spector and Nicholas Frey; technology transactions attorneys Darren Hutchins and Christa Gaines Deeringer; and tax attorneys Ron Schrotenboer and Tim Fitzgibbon.
Fenwick & West provides comprehensive legal services to technology and life sciences clients of national and international prominence. The firm is ranked by MergerMarket as one of the top 5 technology M&A practices in the U.S. and by Bloomberg and FactSet as one of the top dozen M&A legal advisors in the U.S. – across all industries.
Ted Wang
Partner, Corporate Group
650.335.7683
twang@fenwick.com