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Our Team
Scott English
Senior Vice President, Strategic Investments
Darcy Frisch
Vice President, Strategic Investments
Scott Wolfgang
Director, Strategic Investments
Strategic Investments
Hearst Strategic Investments is one of the most active and successful corporate investors in the U.S. Consistently achieving high levels of return on Hearst’s capital since 1995, it has invested in more than 50 emerging media and technology companies.
Nasdaq: NSCP; Sold to AOL for $4.2 Billion
Nasdaq: MSCP; Sold to WebMD
Sold to Nielsen Media Research
Nasdaq: TCTY
Nasdaq: STRM; sold to France Telecom
Nasdaq: QKKA
Nasdaq: BCST; Sold to Yahoo for $5.7 Billion
Nasdaq: EXDS; Sold to Cable and Wireless
Sold to Compaq for $307 million
Sold to Comcast
Sold to TNS Media Intelligence
Sold to NBC Universal for $600 million
Nasdaq: XMSR ; Merged with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI)
Sold to AOL
Sold to Echostar Communications for $380 million
Nasdaq: LOCM
Sold to Sodexho Alliance
Media outlets, businesses and organizations around the world use Brightcove software to publish and distribute video on the Web. Brightcove develops back-end systems so its customers - some of the biggest brands in journalism and entertainment - can focus on front-end content.
BuzzFeed tracks the viral web in real time. The site features the kind of things people can't resist sharing with their friends: an outrageous video that's about to go viral, an obscure subculture breaking into the mainstream, a juicy bit of gossip that everyone at the office will be talking about tomorrow, or an ordinary guy having his glorious 15-minutes of fame.
CURRENT provides Internet software to electric utilities to help them increase the efficiency and reliability of their electric grids in real time, while reducing the environmental impact of electric usage.
Double Fusion has created a powerful in-game advertising network by connecting marketers to millions of video gamers through their dynamic ad-serving technology and marketing services. Double Fusion’s network has numerous top-tier game publishers providing unique game content experiences across all demographics, platforms, and genres.
drugstore.com, inc. is an online retailer of health, beauty, wellness, personal care and pharmacy products. drugstore.com carries tens of thousands of brand-name and hard-to-find items at competitive prices.
E Ink Corporation is a leading supplier of electronic paper displays (EPD). E Ink Vizplex™ imaging film based displays are used in a number of products including eBooks (e.g., Amazon Kindle), eNewspapers, signage (e.g., Esquire Magazine’s 75th anniversary issue), watches, smart cards, key fobs, mobile phones, electronic shelf labels, battery indicators and a variety of other portable devices.
Gazillion Entertainment is a developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) and virtual worlds for global audiences.
Idilia researches and develops technology for natural language processing that will revolutionize applications including Internet search, content management, machine translation and speech recognition. Idilia’s technology will allow these applications to manipulate and use naturally expressed information in a manner comparable to humans.
IGG aims to create a new online entertainment experience for a global audience by developing and publishing free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). Founded in 2005, the company offers multiple titles and services a community of millions of passionate gamers worldwide.
Jingle Networks operates 1-800-FREE411, a free, advertising supported directory assistance service that handles hundreds of millions of calls each year. The company also powers an audio and SMS text advertising network called JingleConnect that serves tens of millions of ad impressions each month. JingleConnect enables advertisers to feed targeted offers to a captive audience.
MobiTV develops and offers technology that streams live television, video-on-demand, and digital music services to wireless and broadband users. Available through wireless carriers and broadband operators, MobiTV has a growing base of millions of subscribers.
Corporations, government entities and non-profit organizations use the NewsMarket’s digital technology to distribute video content to the media, consumers and other key global audiences.
Pandora is a personalized Internet radio service available on computers and mobile devices. It lets users create up to 100 “radio stations” simply by entering a favorite song or artist. Based on the Music Genome Project ®, the most thorough analysis of music created, the playlists are built on musical similarity. Pandora also has an online community, so those with similar taste can connect and share.
Suzanne’s Files is the flagship brand of Spire, a lifestyle content company. Suzanne and Spire’s international collective of renown experts offer trusted recommendations to consumers who seek unique and compelling ideas on travel, food and wine, and wellness and beauty.
TurnHere, Inc. is an Internet video production and advertising company. With a global network of professional filmmakers, a proprietary production technology and an authentic story-telling style, TurnHere produces thousands of videos each month for large consumer brands and online business directories.
Voxpop has created a flexible gaming platform that allows publishers to rapidly convert their existing pop culture content into compelling and contextually relevant online games for their audiences.
WideOrbit provides innovative, proven software solutions for media companies to drive profitability and efficiency, while maximizing the value of their advertising inventory. Media companies around the globe rely on WideOrbit software to manage their end-to-end sales operations from proposal, to order, to billing, delivering unprecedented business insight and control.
Worldwide Biggies creates original entertainment content and immersive experiences for kids, young adults and families across multiple media including the Web, TV, film, games and consumer products. It was founded in 2005 by Albie Hecht, the former president of Nickelodeon Entertainment and Spike TV.