LiveWire Mobile acquires Groove Mobile for $14.5M

Managed mobile personalization services provider LiveWire Mobile announced it will acquire mobile music solutions provider Groove Mobile for $14.5 million. According to LiveWire Mobile, the acquisition will enable the firm to meet its operator partners' demands for managed services including ringtones, ringbacks, full-track music and video downloads. Groove Mobile brings with it a dozen global mobile operator customers including Sprint, 3 UK and Bell Mobility as well as relationships with major labels EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group--with the acquisition, LiveWire now boasts service deployments with 42 international operators, with 15 million active subscribers.

"LiveWire Mobile now delivers the industry's most complete suite of personalization services, spanning the traditional service silos that exist today," said LiveWire president Joel Hughes in a prepared statement. "Through our fully managed and integrated service offering, we can empower operators to cross sell and up sell personalization services while delivering a better mobile experience, resulting in higher levels of service adoption, usage and operator profits."   

For more on the LiveWire/Groove deal:
- read this release [1]

Related articles:
NMS Communications launches LiveWire Mobile [2]
Redeye plugs into Groove Mobile [3]
Groove Mobile [4] signs off-portal deals with UMG, 3 UK
Groove Mobile [5] announces handset deals
Groove Mobile [6] intros music video service