Monstermob

Last updated
Monstermob USA
Industrymobile content
Founded2000
FounderMartin Higginson
DefunctMay 24, 2017 (2017-05-24)
Fate Administration
Headquarters
Key people
Peter Armer
Lee Dudack
David Wood
Niccolo de Masi
David Marks
Products ringtones
wallpapers
games
full length tracks

Monstermob Usa is a Pakistani mobile games company ringtones, wallpapers, games and full length tracks. Operating between 2000 and 2007 it was owned by Monstermob Group plc, which owned similar companies across the globe.

Contents

History

The company was founded by Lancaster businessman Martin Higginson. Peter Armer was appointed as first chief financial officer (CFO) [1] succeeded by Lee Dudack.

Monstermob Group plc was floated on the Alternative Investment Market on the London Stock Exchange with an opening market capitalisation of £32m. Chris Noden was the company's first technical appointment in February 2001 and was responsible for the design and implementation of the firm's award-winning platform. Noden developed the technology to deliver PolyPhonic ringtones to mobiles ahead of other ringtone firms and took the company through the IPO process. David Wood was brought in by Higginson to develop the ringtone catalogue and Wood eventually became one of the main providers of the firms ringtone catalogue.

In August 2004, Monstermob acquired 9 Squared, Inc., a cell phone ringtone company. Following the acquisition, James Eberhard, founder of 9 Squared, joined Monstermob as managing director of Network Services. [2]

As full-track audio ringtone's became possible to deliver, ex Sony Music lawyer David Bloomfield was brought in to develop the music business channel alongside Wood and the pair left the company at the end of 2005. Higginson hired former investment banker Niccolo de Masi and finance director David Marks, then pursued opportunities in China, with Orange founder and former Carphone Warehouse non-executive chairman Hans Snook joining as chairman in May 2005. The company's business was adversely affected by regulatory changes in the United Kingdom and in China, aimed at curbing abusive billing practices among vendors of third-party wireless content. [3]

Founder Higginson was ousted in June 2006. [4] The company issued three profit warnings in 2006, and as a result its shares lost 90 percent of their value over that year. In August 2006, the company revealed that it was in buyout talks with an unnamed purchaser. [5]

In March 2007 Martin Higginson returned to the board as a director. He was brought back to the company after its new owners ousted the directors, including the former CEO and founder of Orange Plc, Hans Snook. [6]

Spanish internet firm LaNetro Zed announced the changes after completing buying up a majority 53% stake in the business and scuppering a rival takeover plan by Chinese mobile content group Linktone.

At the time, LaNetro Zed and Monstermob together became the largest company in the Mobile Value-Added Services (MVAS) market in terms of revenue. The enlarged company operated in 31 countries around the world employing 1,200 staff. [7]

Monstermob Group plc entered administration on 24 May 2017. [8]

Related Research Articles

The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FTSE 100 Index</span> Share index of the London Stock Exchange

The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie", is a stock market index of 100 of the most highly capitalised blue chip companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Invensys Limited was a multinational engineering and information technology company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. At its height, the company had offices in more than 50 countries and its products were sold in around 180 countries.

Countrywide is one of the UK's largest integrated property services group including residential property surveying, a collaboration of estate agents, and corporate services. It employs circa 8,500 personnel nationwide, working across 650+ estate agency or lettings offices operating under 50+ brands. Countrywide is a wholly owned subsidiary of Connells Group

Hans Roger Snook is a British businessman, best known for his time as the founder and chief executive of British mobile phone company Orange.

Eidos Interactive Limited was a British video game publisher based in Wimbledon, London. Its games series included Championship Manager (1992), Tomb Raider (1996) and Hitman (2000). Domark was founded by Mark Strachan and Dominic Wheatley in 1984. In 1995, it was acquired by software company Eidos. Ian Livingstone, who held a stake in Domark, became executive chairman of Eidos and held various roles including creative director. Eidos took over U.S. Gold in 1996, which included developer Core Design, and merged its operations including Domark, which created publishing subsidiary Eidos Interactive. The company acquired Crystal Dynamics in 1998, and owned numerous other assets. In 2005, parent Eidos was taken over by games publisher SCi. The combined company, SCi Entertainment Group, which was briefly renamed Eidos, was itself taken over by Square Enix in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SCi Games</span> British video game publisher

SCi Entertainment Group plc was a British video game publisher based in London. The company was founded in 1988 by Jane Cavanagh and floated on the stock exchange in 1996. In May 2005, SCi acquired Eidos plc, the parent company of publisher Eidos Interactive, and merged their operations by June 2006. In December 2008, SCi was briefly renamed Eidos and was subsequently acquired by Square Enix in March 2009.

Reuters Group plc was a British multinational media and financial information company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was acquired by the Thomson Corporation in 2008, forming Thomson Reuters, and moved its head office to Toronto.

Sir Julian Michael Horn-Smith is a British businessman who is a member of the boards of a number of international corporations and an advisor to others. He was deputy chief executive of Vodafone until July 2006.

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

Hill Samuel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group's Offshore Private Banking unit. It was formerly a leading British merchant bank and financial services firm before the takeover by TSB Group Plc. in 1987, which itself merged with Lloyds Bank to become Lloyds TSB in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WSP Global</span> Canadian consulting firm

WSP Global Inc. is a Canadian consulting firm working mostly in the built environment. It was created in 2012, following Montreal-based Genivar's takeover of British firm WSP Group plc. It is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. After the purchase of New York-headquartered professional services firm Parsons Brinckerhoff in October 2014, WSP effectively became one of the largest professional services firms in the world, with approximately 66,500 employees in 500 offices serving in 40 countries.

Zed Group is a large organisation of privately held interlocking European companies that provide mobile phone and internet entertainment, film animation and video game production. Besides the main company also named Zed, other important companies of Zed Group are Ilion Animation Studios –production company specialized in computer-generated animation feature films like Planet 51- and Pyro Studios –video game developer including "Commandos".

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., a Stifel Company, is an investment banking firm headquartered in New York City, specializing exclusively in the financial services sector. KBW's primary business lines include research, corporate finance, equity sales and trading, equity capital markets, debt capital markets, and asset management.

Man GLG is a discretionary investment manager and a wholly owned subsidiary of British alternative investment manager Man Group plc. It is a diversified and multi-strategy fund manager that operates strategies including equity long-short funds, convertible arbitrage funds, emerging market funds and long-only mutual funds. The firm is also a founding member of the Hedge Fund Standards Board and a signatory of the Principles for Responsible investment. As of 2022, Man GLG had $35.4 billion assets under management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ownership of Arsenal F.C. & W.F.C.</span> Legal aspect of the English football teams

The ownership of Arsenal F.C. and Arsenal W.F.C. is considerably different from that of other clubs in English football for men and women. It is owned by a parent company, Arsenal Holdings plc, which has relatively few shares which are infrequently traded. Historically, the club has been owned by descendants of the Bracewell-Smith and Hill-Wood families. The club attracted outside interest as two rival tycoons, Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov, acquired significant share holdings in 2007. In August 2018, Kroenke's offer of £550 million for Usmanov's share was accepted, and Kroenke bought out the remainder of the shares to become the club's sole shareholder.

dormakaba Swiss security company

dormakaba Holding AG is a global security group based in Rümlang, Switzerland. It employs more than 15,000 people in over 50 countries. It formed as the result of a merger between former Kaba and former Dorma in September 2015 and is publicly traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

Paysafe Limited is a multinational online payments company. Paysafe offers payment processing, digital wallet and online cash solutions to businesses and consumers, with particular experience of serving the global entertainment sectors. The group offers services both under the Paysafe brand and subsidiary brands that have become part of the group through several mergers and acquisitions, most notably Neteller, Skrill, SafetyPay, PagoEfectivo, Paysafecash and paysafecard.

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

Croma Security Solutions Group PLC is a holding company for a group of four security companies. It is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange Group AIM market and is based in the Solent Business Park, Whiteley, Hampshire. It has further offices in London, Dumfries, and Abu Dhabi, with Locksmith outlets along the South Coast. The group is involved in many aspects of security from guarding to locksmithing and many types of electronic security.

Chris Tomic is a German computer scientist, inventor, entrepreneur and a reality TV personality. He has featured in several television shows, mostly on the German news channel N-TV Television.

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

YourParkingSpace is an online marketplace and parking reservation service for drivers looking to find and pre-book parking in the United Kingdom. The website and mobile app feature over 350,000 privately owned and commercially operated parking spaces, which are available to book by the hour, day or month on a subscription basis. As of 2018, YourParkingSpace served over 50 cities across the country. The company is headquartered in Stratford, London.

References

  1. Monstermob Group Share News
  2. "MonsterMob Group PLC Acquisition". London Stock Exchange. 25 August 2004.
  3. Monstermob hit by new China rules, The Financial Times, 10 July 2006, accessed 30 October 2006
  4. Ringtones pioneer Monstermob ousts founder Archived 2006-11-13 at the Wayback Machine , The Independent, 14 June 2006, accessed 30 October 2006
  5. Monstermob confirms bid approach, The Financial Times, 7 August 2006; accessed 30 October 2006
  6. "Spanish company wins MonsterMob". 26 February 2007. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
  7. "MonsterMob Accepts Takeover - Ousts Directors". www.cellular-news.com. 25 February 2007. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015.
  8. "The London Gazette - Appointment of Administrators Notice - Monstermob Group plc". www.thegazette.co.uk. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.