Who would have ever thought that an Italian company would be able to acquire top-tier American companies and reach a valuation of approximately 2.5 billion dollars? And yet it happened. Following its motto “Impossible. Maybe,” which essentially means that everything (or almost everything) is possible, the Milanese technology company Bending Spoons announced in early September the signing of a definitive agreement for the all-cash acquisition of the popular American video streaming platform Vimeo. The transaction, valued at 1.38 billion dollars, should be completed by the end of 2025 and provides for the Italian company to purchase all of Vimeo’s shares from its shareholders for $7.85 each, with Vimeo becoming a private company, no longer traded on the public stock market. 

“We are eager to welcome Vimeo to the Bending Spoons portfolio,” declared Luca Ferrari, CEO and co-founder of Bending Spoons, born in 1985. “After closing, we are determined to make ambitious investments in the United States and other priority markets, as well as in all key business areas, which include both the creator offering and the enterprise offering. We will focus on achieving even more excellent levels of performance and reliability, introducing advanced features to a growing number of customers, and continuing to release powerful features based on responsible artificial intelligence.”

Bending Spoons: The Rise 

The transaction is a unique case for an Italian company working in the digital economy, both for the record amount put on the table and for Vimeo’s extreme popularity, which for years has been considered the best alternative to YouTube thanks to the quality of transmitted videos and the absence of invasive advertising.

Yet, this operation doesn’t surprise those who have followed Bending Spoons’ rise. Founded in 2013 and known for the smartphone game “Live Quiz” and then in Italy for developing the contact tracing app “Immuni” during the pandemic, the company is today recognized among Europe’s largest software application producers with revenues that rose to 1.3 billion in the last year. 

In recent years, the former start-up has also focused heavily on acquiring companies in the digital services sector. Companies that are overwhelmingly American, mature, but no longer very high-performing. For example, in 2023 it acquired Evernote, the note-taking and task management app, and Meetup, the platform for organizing meetings. Last year it then acquired the online file transfer service WeTransfer, the digital publishing platform Issuu, and the video streaming platform StreamYard. This year, in February, before Vimeo, Brightcove, among the US leaders in streaming technologies, also entered the Bending Spoons portfolio for 233 million dollars.

The Impact of The Mega-Acquisition

With Vimeo’s entry into Bending Spoons’ orbit, experts predict a growth phase for both the entire streaming platform industry and companies that produce video content. They also emphasize that the synergy between the new entry and the already acquired companies could lead over time to interesting developments that might redefine the entire concept of digital production and consumption on an international scale.

 

Oscar Giacomin  / General Manager, Facto Edizioni

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