ASX-listed music and media company Vinyl Group has gone shopping again, buying Val Morgan Digital for $10.5 million from parent company Hoyts.
The deal includes $7 million cash and $3.5 million in Vinyl (ASX:VNL) shares, subject to a 24-month escrow.
The acquisition of a key rival will bolster Vinyl’s revenue by more than 70%, with Val Morgan Digital generating $10.7 million in revenue in the 2025 calendar year. The business is also expected to contribute $2.5m in annualised EBITDA to Vinyl Group on a pro forma basis.
Val Morgan Digital publishes a range of online media brands under licence, including Fandom, PopSugar, BuzzFeed, Tasty, Vox Media and LADbible.
WiseTech Global’s billionaire founder Richard White owns more than a third of Vinyl through his investment fund RealWise Holdings. Funding for the acquisition, expected to go through within a month, will come through a facility of up to $10 million provided by existing shareholders, leaving the ASX-listed business with around $3m in working capital.
Vinyl owns blockchain music startup Serenade, music credits database Jaxsta, the Tinder-style musician social network Vampr, trade publication Mediaweek, and The Brag Media, which publishes Rolling Stone, and Variety, as well as Concrete Playground, which it acquired in late 2024 for $5 million.
Vinyl Media claimed it will have a “comparable digital audience” to major media brands Nine and News Corp Australia following the acquisition, reaching around 47% of Australians online in the entertainment category and 51% in news.
Veteran Hoyts Group CEO Damian Keogh, to join the Vinyl board alongside a long-term commercial partnership for cinema and out-of-home advertising inventory for cross-selling.
“We have a large portfolio of premium cultural assets together with significant national reach, providing a unique and compelling value proposition for advertisers,” Keogh said.
Last week Vinyl released its half-yearly results to December 31, with revenue rising 49% on 12 months ago to $11.4 million. While operating expenses fell 13% to $8.1m, the business missed its previously stated ambition to be profitable by the end of 2025, posting a net loss after tax of $3m, more than halving the $6.9m NPAT loss in 1H FY25.
