Thirteen-year-old digital media purveyor WatchMojo has hired the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) to explore a potential sale, as well as to consult on other affairs.
The Montreal-based YouTube network — whose flagship channel produces pop culture-oriented listicles (like the Top 10 Bruce Lee Moments and Top 10 Sexy Female Movie Villains) for 21 million subscribers — also operates a total of 30 channels focused in specific countries and content verticals, such as gaming, kids, travel, science, and entrepreneurship. The company counts 70 full-time employees and dozens of freelancers — with staffers in New York, Los Angeles, and London. WatchMojo, which became profitable in 2012 and owes no debt, reaches 114 million monthly viewers and has clinched 15 billion lifetime views.
“Every week, I get bankers calling me with ideas,” WatchMojo co-founder and CEO Ashkan Karbasfrooshan tells Canadian business news network BNN Bloomberg. “Those conversations are eating up 20 to 30% of my time. I realized I should give someone the mandate so I can focus on everything else.”
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To this end, WatcMojo has previously held discussions with dozens of potential suitors, BNN Bloomberg reports, though has ultimately opted to remain independent. “I don’t want to sell, disappear, and start another business,” Karbasfrooshan told the outlet, noting that he’d prefer to sell a stake in the business rather than the entire company. “I like the industry and our team. I would love to keep growing it.”
Karbasfrooshan also wrote about the prospective sale in a LinkedIn post, where he noted that Viacom’s $340 million acquisition of PlutoTV and Cheddar’s $240 million sale to Altice had reignited M&A activity in the space, and “boomeranged back some parties who’d previously shown an interest in us.” Karbasfrooshan also created a top 10 list — in typical WatchMojo form — to discuss the reasons that a sale started percolating in his mind once again. You can read it in full right here.
In addition to YouTube, WatchMojo also distributes its content on Snapchat and Facebook. It has also sought to launch proprietary endeavors including an OTT service called MojoTV as well as a record label dubbed SoundMojo.
