Motricity

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Motricity, Inc.
Public (NASDAQ: MOTR)
Founded 2004
Founder Ryan Weurch
Headquarters Bellevue, Washington, USA
Key people
 Ryan Weurch (Chairman and CEO)
Services Mobile Portal Services
Slogan Reinventing Mobile Lifestyles
Website www.motricity.com

Motricity was a provider of integrated mobile content solutions for handheld and mobile devices. Motricity was formed in 2004 by Ryan Wuerch after having merged with Pinpoint which was founded by Taylor Brockman and Jud Bowman. Originally formed as PowerByHand which then purchased and primarily based on PalmGear.com which was founded by Kenny West and J.D. Crouch - "PalmGear.com", the company changed its name to Motricity in October 2004 after its merger with Pinpoint Networks. The name Motricity is a portmanteau of the words mobile and electricity.

Upon completion of reorganization, Motricity became a wholly owned subsidiary of Voltari, which replaces Motricity as a publicly held corporation. It is anticipated that, as of April 10, 2013, shares of Voltari Common Stock will commence trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol "VLTC."

Corporate history

In 2001, Wuerch founded PowerByHand, a company that provides content, information and education for hand-held and mobile devices. PowerByHand acquired a number of commercial Internet companies, including PalmGear.com in October 2002, eReader.com in September 2003, and PocketGear.com, and Smartphone.net in March 2004.

In April 2004, PowerByHand merged with Pinpoint Networks, a provider of software and services for the management and delivery of mobile data services.

In October 2004, the company changed its name to Motricity and announced the acquisition of Mobile2Day.de, a European mobile content portal.

Motricity later sold off these acquired units, with the smartphone applications business going to the newly created Pocketgear, Inc. in June, 2008,[1] to focus the company on mobile content delivery services

In January 2012, Motricity announced plans to restructure its business, shifting away from its signature content and data solutions to focus on the mobile advertising and enterprise space. Motricity will work with operators, brands and creative agencies to deliver merchandising, advertising and marketing services leveraging predictive analytics technologies. Around that same time, Motricity closed its Asian operations, a step that included the termination of its relationship with Indonesian mobile operator XL Axiata, which accounted for about 11 percent of Motricity revenues during the first nine months of 2011.The shareholders allege that Wuerch and other execs were involved in an insider trading scheme as the stock traded for inflated prices. Also at this time, Motricity’s CEO, along with other senior executives, allegedly engaged in a coordinated insider trading scheme to reap over $11 million in illicit proceeds from stock options sold while the company traded at inflated prices.

As of April 10, 2013, shares of Voltari Common Stock will commence trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol "VLTC," Motricity became a wholly owned subsidiary of Voltari.[2]

Private Funding

  • US$27 million in July 2004, led by Silicon Valley-based Technology Crossover Ventures;
  • US$30 million in July 2005, from Chicago–based Advanced Equities Inc., as well as such existing investors as Technology Crossover Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, and Intel Capital;
  • $40 million in April 2006, led by Advanced Equities Inc., with participation from other existing investors, including New Enterprise Associates and Technology Crossover Ventures;
  • US$32 million in August 2006, led by Advanced Equities Inc., with participation from other existing investors.

These rounds raised the company's total funding to over US$150 million, one of the largest amounts of capital ever raised by a private company in North Carolina.

Additional funding came from Carl Icahn in the form of US$50 million in March 2007 and another US$50 million in October of that same year. This last was part of a US$185 million round of funding. Advanced Equities Inc. raised its investment by another US$100 million, adding to its US$50 million already invested.

The total raised by this point in time was reported to be US$405 million.

Acquisition of InfoSpace Mobile Division and Future Direction

The October 2007 round of funding was used in large part to finance the January 2008 acquisition of the mobile division of Seattle-based Infospace for a reported US$135 million.[3] The initial strategy of the company was to leverage the Fuel storefront solution with the newly acquired mCore mobile portal solution to present a total solution for mobile providers.[citation needed]

Shortly after the InfoSpace acquisition was completed, Motricity found that the mCore storefront acquired from InfoSpace was more technically appealing, and decided to move forward with that solution.[citation needed] This was followed shortly by the announcement that 250 employees based in Durham would be laid-off, and the corporate headquarters moved to Bellevue, WA, leaving approximately 100 employees remaining in Durham.[4]

IPO

On January 22, 2010 the company filed for a $250 million IPO.[5] The company went public on the NASDAQ with the stock ticker MOTR on June 18, 2010, offering 6,000,000 shares at US$10 per share.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ http://investors.voltari.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=755381
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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