Fenwick & West LLP represented IGN Entertainment, Inc. in its recently announced acquisition by News Corporation (NYSE: NWS). News Corporation will pay $650 million in cash for IGN Entertainment. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of calendar 2005. IGN Entertainment is a long-standing client of Fenwick & West. The firm represented IGN Entertainment—then known as Snowball.com—in its March 2000 IPO. In 2002, Snowball.com changed its name to IGN Entertainment and began focusing exclusively on video gaming and digital entertainment. In August 2003, Fenwick & West represented IGN in its going-private transaction with Great Hill Partners. In 2005, IGN Entertainment decided that it would pursue an IPO, filing its S-1 with the SEC in July. Shortly thereafter, News Corporation expressed its interest in acquiring IGN Entertainment.
More information about the transaction can be obtained from the News Corporation Web site at http://www.newscorp.com/news/news_259.html.
The Fenwick & West transaction team consisted of corporate attorneys: Gordon Davidson, Robert Dellenbach, Ken Linhares, Dave Borders, Jr., Melissa Trousdale, Melissa Eisenberg, Blake Martell, Tahir Naim; IP attorneys Mark Ostrau, Mitchell Zimmerman, Tanda Neundorf; employee benefits partner Scott Spector; tax attorney Timothy Fitzgibbon; and of counsel R.J. Heher and Mona Clee.
The Fenwick & West transaction team worked closely with IGN inside lawyers David Phillips, General Counsel, Craig Abruzzo, Assistant General Counsel and Todd Murtha, Senior Counsel.
Fenwick & West provides comprehensive legal services to high technology and life sciences clients of national and international prominence. The firm was ranked by MergerMarket as the #1 U.S. Legal Advisor for Technology Industry M&A in 2004.