Xperi has acquired Vewd for $109 million through a mix of cash and debt. The acquisition will establish Xperi as the leading independent provider of smart television middleware. It also gives Xperi access to around 15 million devices in Europe on which it can enable its TiVo+ television service.
Xperi Holding Corporation owns technologies integrated into billions of consumer devices, media platforms and semiconductors worldwide, through brands including DTS, HD Radio, IMAX Enhanced and Tivo.
Vewd Software Holdings Limited, formerly Opera TV, is an independent software provider for smart television manufacturers. Over 450 million connected television devices have shipped with Vewd smart television solutions, with customers including Amazon, Commscope, Hisense, Nintendo, Sagemcom, Skyworth, Sony, Swisscom, TCL, TPV Phillips and Vestel.
In late 2021, Vewd came to an agreement with lenders to swap $118 million in debt for equity under a Chapter 11 restructuring plan.
“Xperi’s TiVo product offerings, when integrated with Vewd’s suite of streaming platform solutions, will help accelerate and scale the deployment of TiVo OS for connected TVs and expand our video-over-broadband offerings” said Jon Kirchner, the chief executive of Xperi.
“Vewd’s global reach and expertise in providing support to content owners, TV OEMs, and SoC partners as they deploy middleware and OS solutions across various devices is tremendously valuable and further paves the way for additional monetization opportunities as we expand our global footprint of streaming devices.”
Xperi is planning to separate out its intellectual property and product businesses later in the year.
Aneesh Rajaram, the chief executive of Vewd, said he was looking forward to combining the experience, skills and scale of both organisations to deliver new innovations for clients. Xperi will gain around 275 staff. The Vewd management team will continue to lead the business and will be integrated into the Xperi management structure.