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Chicken Soup to acquire Redbox for $375 million

(Logo courtesy Redbox, Graphic by The Desk)

Publishing company and content distributor Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment has agreed to buy DVD kiosk company Redbox for $375 million, the brands announced on Wednesday.

The deal includes $50 million in Chicken Soup stock as well as $325 million in debt. It comes less than a year after Redbox became a publicly-traded entity through its merger with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). Both companies saw a drop in their share price after the news was announced.

Chicken Soup said the deal is intended to help bolster its ad-supported streaming products. The company currently operates the free streaming service Crackle; Redbox launched its own ad-supported streaming service in 2020 in order to diversify its revenue, which has largely focused on its DVD-for-rent kiosk business.

“Our acquisition of Redbox will accelerate the scaling of our business as it combines complementary teams and services to create the streaming industry’s premier independent [ad-supported streaming service],” a Chicken Soup executive said in a statement on Wednesday.

Chicken Soup says it expects to distribute select titles from its Screen Media production company at Redbox’s 40,000 DVD-for-rent kiosks, which are located inside or in front of supermarkets, discount stores and gas stations. For the time being, the company expects to continue operating the Redbox kiosks while it builds on its streaming endeavors.

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About the Author:

Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys is an award-winning journalist with more than 10 years of experience covering the business of television and radio broadcasting, streaming services and the overall media industry. In addition to his work as publisher of The Desk, Matthew contributes regularly to StreamTV Insider and KnowTechie, and has worked for several well-known news organizations, including Thomson Reuters, McNaughton Newspapers, Grasswire, Comstock's magazine, KTXL-TV and KGO-TV. Matthew is a member of IRE, a trade organization for investigative reporters and editors, and is based in Northern California.

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