An exclusive gaming industry community targeted
to, and designed for Professionals, Businesses
and Students in the sectors and industries
of Gaming, New Media and the Web, all closely
related with it's Business and Industry.
A Rich content driven service including articles,
contributed discussion, news, reviews, networking, downloads,
and debate.
We strive to cater for cultural influencers,
technology decision makers, early adopters and business leaders in the gaming industry.
A medium to share your or contribute your ideas,
experiences, questions and point of view or network
with other colleagues here at iVirtua Community.
"And Disney has agreed to pay the founders, three fathers based in Kelowna, British Columbia, up to $350 million more by the end of 2009 if the site meets growth targets"
Quote:
Club Penguin’s founders will continue to manage the site. One of them, Lane Merrifield, will become an executive vice president of Disney’s Internet group. Mr. Merrifield said his first job was operating animatronic insects in a “Lion King” parade at Disneyland. “In building Club Penguin, we constantly looked at how Disney operates its theme parks in terms of creating an atmosphere that continues to evolve and stay relevant,” he said.
He said the company turned down other bidders in part because “all they could offer was money.” With Disney, Mr. Merrifield said, “there was really an existing infrastructure that would help us expand.”
The site is 'Club Penguin', where "More than 700,000 users now pay $5.95 a month to customize penguin characters and then chat and play games with other 'penguins.'"
From TC's company profile (http://www.crunchbase.com/company/clubpenguin)
Club Penguin is an online virtual world and one of the fastest growing sites aimed at children between 6 and 14. Launched less than 2 years ago in October of 2005, ClubPenguin has not only become profitable but expects to make $35 million in profit off revenues of $65 million in 2007. It was acquired by Disney on August 1, 2007 for $350 million in cash with an opportunity for an additional $350 million cash earn out by 2009. It will shortly be rebranded “Disney’s Club Penguin”.
The virtual world claims a usership of 700,000 paid subscribers with over 5 million visitors a month. Subscriptions are $6 monthly but may change after the Disney acquisition is completed.
Digg Topic
Tag topic on On del.icio.us
Technorati Search
Post to Slashdot
