TOP NEWS

j2 Global Buys IGN Entertainment

Los Angeles-based j2 Global, the provider of cloud-based business and telephony services, said today that it has acquired IGN Entertainment, the video game, entertainment, and men's lifestyle publisher, via is Ziff Davis subsidiary. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. The acquisition significantly bolsters j2's media properties.

j2 Global said the acquisition will more than double its digital media business. j2 moved into digital media in only November, when it purchased Ziff Davis in an all cash deal, funded by a steady stream of revenues from Internet fax, email, business telephony, and other cloud services.

j2 Global said it now operates PCMAG.com, Geek.com, Toolbox.com, IGN.com, UGO.com, 1UP.com and AskMen.com, which has a reach of over 53 million global monthly unique visitors, and also doubles the revenues of j2's digital media business. The move is bound to raise the visibility of j2's digital media ambitions; prior to the acquisition of Ziff Davis last year, j2 had veryu quietly grown into a Southern California technology powerhouse, via its list of Internet FAX, business PBX, hosted email, online backup, and a big collection of other, business cloud software offerings.