Glu Mobile

Glu Mobile Inc.
Formerly
 Sorrent, Inc. (2001–2005)
Public
Traded as NASDAQ: GLUU
Russell 2000 Component
Industry Video game industry
Founded November 26, 2001 (2001-11-26)
Headquarters San Francisco, California, U.S.
Key people
 Nick Earl (CEO & President)
Revenue $223.1 million[1]
Subsidiaries PlayFirst
Plain Vanilla Games
Griptonite Games
GluPlay
CrowdStar
Website www.glu.com

Glu Mobile Inc. is an American developer and publisher of mobile games for smartphone and tablet devices. Founded in San Francisco, California, in 2001 as Sorrent, Glu offers products to multiple platforms including iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows Phone and Google Chrome.[2]

History

Glu logo from 2005 until 2014
Glu logo in use since 2014, as seen on some app icons

In December 2004, San Mateo, California-based Sorrent merged with London-based Macrospace. In June 2005 the merged company created a new corporate name: Glu Mobile.[3] That same year, Greg Ballard replaced Sorrent founder Scott Orr as CEO. In 2006 Glu Mobile acquired iFone and in 2007 it acquired Chinese mobile game producer Beijing Zhangzhong MIG Information Technology Co. Ltd. ("MIG"). In September 2007, Glu Mobile announced the launch of Asteroids for mobile phones.[4] In March 2008 Glu Mobile acquired San Clemente-based mobile developer Superscape.

In January 2010, Niccolo de Masi joined Glu Mobile as the President and CEO. Mr. de Masi was previously CEO at Hands-On Mobile. Since his arrival, Glu has transitioned to a freemium business model focused around Glu's original IP.

On August 2, 2011, Glu Mobile acquired Griptonite Games. Its staff of 200 "approximately doubles" Glu's internal development capacity.[5]

Glu Mobile bought Gamespy Technologies (the entity responsible for GameSpy multiplayer services) from IGN Entertainment in August 2012,[6] and proceeded in December to raise integration costs and shut down servers for many older games, including the Star Wars: Battlefront series, Sniper Elite, Microsoft Flight Simulator X and Neverwinter Nights, with no warning to developers or consumers.[7] GameSpy Technologies remained operational and did not make any announcements of an impending shutdown; the two GameSpy companies were separate entities and only related by name.[8] Glu mobile also shut down online multiplayer servers for several titles on the Nintendo DS and Wii, such as Mario Kart DS, Super Smash Bros Brawl, and Mario Kart Wii. Glu shut down the rest of Gamespy effective on May 31, 2014.[9]

On September 3, 2014, PlayFirst was acquired by Glu Mobile. The official statement from Glu Mobile CEO, Niccolo de Masi, read "We are pleased to officially add PlayFirst to the Glu family and look forward to delivering new DASH products to a worldwide audience,"[10]

In April 2015, China Tencent paid $126 Million for a 15 % stake in Glu Mobile.[11] Now 20.8% as of 2017[12]

On December 22, 2016, it was announced that Glu Mobile had acquired the trivia game QuizUp for US$7.5M.

In November 2016, Nick Earl became CEO. The majority stake of Glu Mobile shares are held by institutions: at the start of the third quarter of 2012, institutional ownership was 78% of the outstanding shares according to Google Finance.[13]

Games published

See also

  • PlayFirst, its subsidiary, was acquired by Glu Mobile on September 3, 2014

References

  1. ↑ http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=207033&p=irol-sec
  2. ↑ http://www.glu.com/about
  3. ↑ "Glu". Edge. Future plc. 16 June 2005. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Glu Mobile Inc : Glu Launches Asteroids® on Mobile Phones Worldwide". September 4, 2007. Retrieved Jul 14, 2013.
  5. ↑ http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/126331/Glu_Mobile_Picks_Up_Griptonite_Blammo_After_Narrowing_Losses.php
  6. ↑ "Glu Acquires GameSpy Technology to Expand Connected, Cross-platform Mobile Leadership". Glu Mobile. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  7. ↑ "Glu Shutting Down Multiplayer for GameSpy-based PC Titles". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  8. ↑ "A Tale of Two GameSpys". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 13 December 2012. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  9. ↑ "Star Wars Battlefront 2, Empire at War going offline due to GameSpy shutdown". Polygon. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  10. ↑ PlayFirst (2014-09-03). "Glu Mobile Completes Acquisition of PlayFirst". PlayFirst. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
  11. ↑ "Tencent Will Pay $126 Million for 15 Percent Stake in Glu Mobile". re/code. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  12. ↑ https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/09/chinese-ipos-in-the-us-an-indirect-battle-between-alibaba-and-tencent.html
  13. ↑ https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:GLUU#
  14. ↑ http://time.com/4594262/nicki-minaj-empire-game/
  15. ↑ "Bug Village : a real pest of a game". BestWP7Games. 22 January 2012. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012.
  16. ↑ "Gun Bros Freemium dual stick xBox Live shooter". BestWP7Games. 12 July 2012. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012.
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