FUN Technologies

Last updated

FUN Technologies Inc.
Genre Online gaming
Founded2002
Founder Lorne Abony, Andrew Rivkin
FateAcquired by Liberty Media
Headquarters
Toronto, Ontario
,
Canada
Subsidiaries WorldWinner

FUN Technologies was an online game company based in Toronto. Founded in 2002 by Canadian businessmen Lorne Abony and Andrew Rivkin, [1] FUN grew to become the world's largest provider of online casual games and fantasy sports, with over 35 million registered customers. FUN was publicly traded with a full listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2003 and Toronto Stock Exchange in 2004. Abony was its chief executive officer when FUN was listed on the TSX, making him the youngest CEO of any company listed on the exchange. [2]

FUN was one of the fastest-growing companies in the history of the Toronto Stock Exchange.[ citation needed ] In less than three years, the company raised over $160 million in five rounds of equity financings, including its IPO. FUN completed eight strategic acquisitions for a total consideration of $128 million. In March 2006, American media giant Liberty Media acquired FUN [3] in a transaction valuing the company at $484 million. [4]

In September 2006, FUN Technologies held a competition with a $1 million grand prize aiming to find the "world's best casual gamer". The competition had 71 contestants and featured the casual games Bejeweled 2 , Solitaire , and Zuma The top prize of $1 million was awarded to a young woman of Odessa, TX named Kavitha Yalavarthi (now Kavitha Shah.) This made her the first esports millionaire and the top female esports earner to date. [5]

SkillJam, founded by Justin Beckett, Michael Raeford, and Mark Elfenbein [6] in 1999 as EGamesGroup before being acquired by Los Angeles based EUniverse on November 8, 2001, was acquired by FUN Technologies in 2004. The SkillJam website used to have online skill-based games, including the exclusive license to Pop Cap's Bejeweled for cash and prizes, sudoku, chess, [7] Zuma, Big Money! and Dynomite! , [8] as well as partnerships with service providers like DirecTV, offering its game tournaments via DirecTV's set-top boxes. [9]

In 2006, FUN acquired its Newton, Massachusetts-based competitor WorldWinner, an established tournament games platform with a large portfolio of games, including Scrabble Cubes, solitaire and Luxor, founded by Alex Bloom (Saidakovsky), Alex Ganelis, and Daniil Utin in 1999. [10] It merged SkillJam into WorldWinner.com in 2007, dropping the SkillJam brand. [8]

In December 2007, Liberty Media acquired FUN Technologies. [11] As a result of the acquisition, WorldWinner began to be integrated with the Liberty-owned Game Show Network, and FUN Technologies was discontinued as a brand. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puzzle video game</span> Video game genre

Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion. Many puzzle games involve a real-time element and require quick thinking, such as Tetris (1985) and Lemmings (1991).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Game Show Network</span> American digital cable and satellite television channel

Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by the television network division of Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along with new, first-run original and revived game shows. The network has also previously aired reality competition series and televised poker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online skill-based game</span>

Online skill-based games are online games in which the outcome of the game is determined by the player's physical skill or mental skill. As in off-line games of skill, the definition has legal meaning, as playing games of chance for money is an illegal act in several countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberty Media</span> American mass media company

Liberty Media Corporation, commonly referred to as Liberty Media or just Liberty, is an American mass media company founded by John C. Malone in 1991. The company has three divisions, reflecting its ownership stakes in Formula One, Sirius XM, and Live Nation Entertainment. The SIRIUS XM Holdings segment operates two audio entertainment companies, Sirius XM and Pandora. Sirius M offers channels and information and entertainment services. Pandora is a streaming platform for searching for music and podcasts. The segment "Formula 1" is a global motorsport business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esports</span> Form of competition using video games

Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PopCap Games</span> American video game developer

PopCap Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Seattle, and a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. The company was founded in 2000 by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pogo.com</span> Web based video gaming service

Pogo.com is a free online gaming website that offers over 50 casual games from brands like Hasbro and PopCap Games. It offers a variety of card and board games to puzzle, sports and word games. It is owned by Electronic Arts and is based in Redwood Shores, California.

A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a hardcore game, which is targeted at hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They generally involve simpler rules, shorter sessions, and require less learned skill. They do not expect familiarity with a standard set of mechanics, controls, and tropes.

NeoEdge Networks was a Silicon Valley–based technology and in-game advertising company that enabled casual game publishers and developers to deliver television-like commercials within their products – frequently in the context of free-to-consumer casual game play. NeoEdge powered advertising for a variety of game publishers including Yahoo. NeoEdge provided both peer-to-peer game distribution and in-game advertising . It was renamed Blue Noodle in early 2011 and shut down later that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Championship Gaming Series</span> Defunct esports league

The Championship Gaming Series (CGS) was a professional esports league based in the United States, that operated from 2007 to 2008. It was a global league that featured teams representing cities from around the world. The CGS aimed to bring a traditional sports league format to competitive gaming, with teams, franchises, and a regular season leading to playoffs and a championship. The CGS was preceded by the 2006 Championship Gaming Invitational, a television pilot featuring several future CGS players. The league was founded in 2007 and was owned and operated by DirecTV in association with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and STAR TV. Games played in the CGS included titles such as Counter-Strike: Source, FIFA, Dead or Alive 4, Project Gotham Racing 3, and Forza Motorsport 2. The league had a television broadcast deal, and matches were aired on various networks. Despite initial hype and investment, the CGS faced financial challenges and eventually ceased operations in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Station.com</span>

Station.com was Sony Online Entertainment's portal that was the home to its many PC, console, casual and mobile games. It is the home to many MMOs including EverQuest, EverQuest II, The Matrix Online, PlanetSide, and Star Wars Galaxies, which have gained hundreds of thousands of paid subscribers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gamesville</span> Former casual gaming portal

Gamesville was a casual gaming portal founded in 1995 in Boston, Massachusetts by Steven Kane, Stuart Roseman and John Furse. Gamesville was acquired in 1999 by Web portal Lycos for $232 million in stock. Gamesville's tagline was "Wasting your time since 1996".

Margaret Wallace is an American entrepreneur, gaming and media professional. In 2009, she co-founded Playmatics with Nicholas Fortugno in New York, New York. The company focuses on bringing new kinds of immersive experiences to casual gamers. In 2006, she was named one of the hundred most influential women in the game industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lorne Abony</span> Canadian businessman

Lorne Abony is a Canadian businessman, currently the managing partner of Texas Venture Partners, a venture capital company located in Austin, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WorldWinner</span>

WorldWinner is a cross-platform, skill-based games community that operates competitive cash tournaments for web, mobile web, and mobile platforms. Games include Solitaire Rush, Wheel of Fortune, SCRABBLE Cubes, and Two Dots. In 2018, WorldWinner launched Angry Birds Champions, the official cash tournament version of Rovio Entertainment's Angry Birds.

Justin Beckett is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist and author.

Andrew Rivkin is a Canadian investor and entrepreneur. Rivkin is best known as the co-founder of CryptoLogic, a pioneering online casino software company, and FUN Technologies, one of the world's largest providers of casual games and fantasy sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tile-matching video game</span> Type of puzzle video game

A tile-matching video game is a type of puzzle video game where the player manipulates tiles in order to make them disappear according to a matching criterion. In many tile-matching games, that criterion is to place a given number of tiles of the same type so that they adjoin each other. That number is often three, and these games are called match-three games.

References

  1. ↑ Securing a second success Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine , eGaming Review magazine, December 7, 2005
  2. ↑ Thomas Watson (14 March 2005). "Fun and games". Canadian business weekly. Archived from the original (Magazine Article) on 29 June 2006. Retrieved 14 March 2005.
  3. ↑ Marketwire (1 October 2007). "Liberty Media Corporation to Acquire Fun technologies" (NewsWire). CBS Interactive. Retrieved 1 October 2007.
  4. ↑ Peter C.Newman (1 October 2007). "The New Masters Of The Universe: Lorne Abony". Globe & Mail. Archived from the original on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2007.
  5. ↑ Casual gamer gets serious prize, GameSpot, September 12, 2006 Archived 12 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Cashmore, Pete (30 October 2006). "SaySwap Launches Game-Swapping Site, Backed by MySpace Founder". Mashable. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  7. ↑ Potter, Beth (23 November 2005). "Liberty has a go at games on the Web". The Denver Post . Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  8. 1 2 "FUN Technologies' Skill Games Network Reaches Industry Record of More than 30 Million Players Globally". Marketwire (press release). 6 March 2007. Archived from the original on 25 August 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  9. ↑ "Fun Tech partners with DirecTV". The Boston Globe . 15 February 2007. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  10. ↑ "WorldWinner.com Launches Online Gaming Site that Rewards Skilled Players with Cash Prizes; New Gaming Destination Brings the Thrill of Competition to Familiar Games. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  11. ↑ "Liberty Media Corporation Completes Acquisition of FUN Technologies Inc". Press release. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  12. ↑ Viscarolosaga, Efrain. "WorldWinner's parent plans a whole new game". Mass High Tech. Archived from the original on 29 August 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.