Bellrock Media has acquired Moderati to create a new powerhouse in the US and Japanese mobile content markets.
The joined entity will develop branded and co-owned content, with Moderati's relationships with key operators - it hosts and manages Sprint's ringtone offering and has an on-deck presence with 14 US operators - dovetailing with Bellrock's sizeable library.
The Moderati executive management, including company president Carolynne Schloeder, will remain with the merged company in its San Francisco office.
The heritage of both companies is linked to Japan's Faith Inc, which is an investor in Bellrock (along with Intel and Yoshimoto Kogyo) and established Moderati as a wholly-owned US subsidiary in 2001.
Bellrock itself was founded in 2005 and is headed up by company president Peter Levin, a former Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and Walt Disney exec, CEO Hiroshi Nakata and CCO Ken Ng, a former Disney Online and Jamdat exec.
Levin said: "Bringing Moderati and its management team under the Bellrock umbrella gives us tremendous credibility and a mature platform from which to execute in the US mobile market. This acquisition accelerates our growth timeline domestically and gets us up to speed with our Japanese operation, which is firing on all cylinders."
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Schloeder said: "Joining the Bellrock Media family is an exciting move for us. They bring expertise in branded entertainment and relationships with major franchises that perfectly complement our mobile content business and we immediately expand our joint product portfolio. Together, we will shape the next phase in mobile and broadband entertainment."
