Twitter spent more than $86 million to add Periscope and Niche to its portfolio, according to a filing by the micro-blogging company with the SEC on Monday. Though the fillings did not reveal any information about the cost of each purchase, it can be assumed that Periscope was a more expensive acquisition than Niche.
Price for Periscope?
In February, Twitter revealed its plan to buy Niche, a small New York-centered social media firm that deals with linking social media stars to different brands in order to generate sponsored content. Not long after this, the company announced it was acquiring the live-video streaming platform Periscope. The micro-blogging site spent $30 million for the social media start-up company Niche, as reported by Recode. However, it still remains unknown as to how much Twitter paid to obtain Periscope.
As part of the mandatory procedure to list mergers and acquisitions, Twitter filed the combined price of both the deals with the SEC. The $30 million Twitter reportedly paid for Niche included earn-out payments, and stock options were also a part of the deal with Periscope. The total earn-outs, including the ones provided for Periscope, amount to about $38 million. Data for earn-outs paid to each of the companies is also not available. However, during the time of acquisition, several publishers indicated the Twitter-Periscope merger would cost around $100 million, which should include of all the earn-outs and the agreements with the workers of both the companies, says a report from Re/code.
Periscope is a good fit for Twitter
Live video is becoming very popular on social networks as a lot of people have made the Internet a common platform to share their personal information. Moreover, as more and more sellers start using video feeds to advertise their products, live-video platforms such as Periscope could offer strong revenue prospects for their owners.
As a matter of fact, Twitter acquired Periscope to increase its user base and revenue opportunities. The service managed to acquire a million users in the initial 10 days of its launch. Moreover, to increase this number, Twitter restricted Meerkat’s access to its users.
