GrindTV and Sportnet announced plans to combine the web's two top
action sports properties into one dominant digital action sports
network collectively reaching over ten million monthly visitors. The
company will operate as Sportnet, and will provide exclusive content,
robust community features and a suite of online utilities. It will also
provide both endemic and mainstream marketers with an ideal way to
reach a coveted and trend-setting audience. The announcement was made
today by Erik Hawkins, CEO and co-founder of GrindTV, and Ron Bension
CEO of Sportnet.
Hawkins and GrindTV co-founder and COO Greg Morrow launched GrindTV in
2005, and since that time have grown the site into the leading
destination for fans of action sports. GrindTV is the exclusive action
sports channel on Yahoo! Sports, and is backed by venture capital firm
SoftBank Capital.
“By joining forces with Sportnet, we now have access to deep
sport-specific communities on sites such as Wetsand.com, Motocross.com
and Skateboard.com. We are committed to leveraging these complementary
online properties to create the leading action sports media company for
fans, marketers, and the industry,” said Hawkins and Morrow.
“The combination of GrindTV and Sportnet creates a clear market-leader
in the exciting action sports segment,” said SoftBank Capital Managing
Director Eric Hippeau. “We have been behind GrindTV from the very
beginning, and its always exciting when a portfolio company takes
flight.”
“Through GrindTV, Erik and Greg have uniformly built the leading action
sports portal available on a digital platform. By combining their
properties with Sportnet's associated sites and Wasserman's business
and management infrastructure, consumers, advertisers and the overall
action sports category will benefit,” said Ron Bension, CEO, Sportnet.
Via distribution relationships with companies such as Hulu, Comcast,
MSN and Google, content from the new Sportnet sites will be distributed
digitally to web, wireless and IPTV platforms that reach hundreds of
millions of users worldwide. The new Sportnet will be headquartered in
El Segundo, CA, with offices in Orange County, CA and New York. Hawkins
and Morrow will serve as CEO and COO of the combined company.
Launched in 2007 by Wasserman Media Group, Sportnet produces content
across sites covering action sports including Motocross, Mountain Bike,
Skateboard, Snowboarding, and Surf. Along with editorial, community and
video content, Sportnet has hosted and webcasted live events such as
the Maloof Money Cup for Skateboard.com, the AMA motocross series for
Motocross.com, as well as the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing and Globe
Pro Fiji for Wetsand.com.
As part of the deal, Wasserman and SoftBank will collectively become
majority shareholders of the combined company. Additionally, Wasserman
CEO and Chairman Casey Wasserman and COO Josh Swartz will join
SoftBank's Eric Hippeau and Cindy Sperling on the company's Board of
Directors.
