The shareholders of Club Penguin have Extremely Happy Feet as Disney acquires the children’s website for $350 million — plus another $350 million if performance targets are met:
Club Penguin, a social network/virtual world that has been on the market for some time, was acquired by The Walt Disney Company and announced today. An earlier deal with Sony fell apart over valuation and Club Penguin’s policy of donating a substantial portion of profits to charity.The company, which launched in October 2005, has 700,000 current paid subscribers and 12 million activated users, primarily in the U.S. and Canada.
The WSJ says the purchase price is $350 million in cash. Disney could pay up to another $350 million if certain performance targets are reached over the next couple of years, until 2009.
Subscriptions are $6 per month, and Club Penguin expects to make $35 million in profit off revenues of $65 million in 2007.