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News Corp. has sold its wireless entertainment division, Fox Mobile Group, to real estate holding company Jesta Group, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Financial terms were not disclosed on the deal, which was finalized Wednesday.
Rupert Mudoch‘s company had been looking to spin off Fox Mobile, which sells games, ring tones, original videos and movies and TV shows on demand. Brands include Jamba, Jamster, Mobizzo and Bitbop.
News Corp. spent $388 million on Jamba — first with a majority stake in 2006, and then buying it from VeriSign in 2008. With that acquisition, it formed Fox Mobile Group to handle licensing, distribution and original content production.
But News Corp. has since devoted resources to other company objectives. Chief operating officer Chase Carey told investors in August that the company was “pursuing a process to potentially sell” the business.
Fox Mobile will be renamed once it joins the newly formed Jesta Mobile Holdings, which is based in Berlin and Beverly Hills, the L.A. Times reports.
“We believe that mobile entertainment is an important emerging market and we are excited about this acquisition,” Jesta Group president Jason Aintabi said in a statement.
News Corp. will then more traditionally license its movies and TV shows on mobile platforms, the Times reports, as it did last summer by releasing Samsung phones already downloaded with Avatar.
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