The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the State of Delaware revealed yesterday that TiVo Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Xperi Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: XPER), won the bidding for the assets of MobiTV Corp. MobiTV, which supplies streaming video capabilities to broadband services providers, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this past March (see "MobiTV files voluntary Chapter 11, heads for restructuring"). Tivo will pay $17.4 million in cash plus the payment of certain cure amounts and the assumption of certain other liabilities in an amount up to approximately $6 million. Press reports suggest the “certain cure amounts” bring the upfront cost to $18.5 million.
The court ruled the acquisition must close by June 1, 2021, at 1 PM Pacific Daylight Time. A hearing in which the winning bid is expected to be formally approved by the court is slated to take place May 21.
Tivo’s primary competitor for MobiTV, a combination of Amino Technologies (US) LLC, Roku, Inc., and RPX Corp., was selected as the backup bidder. That group bid $16.7 million in cash; its formal bid also includes the addition of the cure amounts and assumption of liabilities on approximately the same terms and conditions as Tivo.
The deadline for opening bids was May 7, 2021. Eight parties submitted qualified bids, either solely or in combination: Aire Technology Ltd., the Amino/Roku/RPX combination, Streaming TV Acquisition LLC, TiVo, TV2 Consulting, LLC, and Vobile, Inc. The auction began May 11, 2021, and concluded May 12 after several rounds of bidding.
TiVo will acquire both MobiTV’s IP as well as its ongoing business concerns (see, for example, "NCTC Taps MobiTV for App-Based Pay TV Delivery"). “The acquisition of the MobiTV assets immediately expands our capabilities and the addressable market for our IPTV solutions, helping to secure TiVo’s position as a leading provider of pay-TV solutions,” commented Jon Kirchner, CEO of Xperi. “As a result, the acquisition of MobiTV’s managed service assets will help accelerate our growth in the IPTV market through an increased subscriber footprint.”