Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment announced earlier this week that it officially wrapped up the acquisition of DVD-rental company Redbox. The deal, which was announced back in May and approved by shareholders earlier this month, is worth $375 million.
“I’ve been looking forward to the day Redbox would become part of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment family — and today is that day,” William Rouhana Jr., chairman, and CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, said in a statement.
Chicken Soup’s already an impressive streaming catalog of 40,000 moves, and television series will now see the addition of 11,000 titles from Redbox as well as an expansion of the free ad-supported streaming TV platform to 145 channels. Also, Redbox’s network of 36,000 DVD-rental kiosks and 39 million customers involved in the loyalty program will open up new advertisement opportunities and add a new way to promote the company’s original films.
The acquisition will give birth to a new company that will be 76.5% owned by the Chicken Soup shareholders, while the remaining 23.5% will go to stockholders of Redbox. The merger is expected to lead to $500 million in annual revenue, more than triple compared to current numbers, and over $40 million in operating synergies support.