In a turn of events, a Chinese firm has become the new owner of the popular Opera Internet browser. As per what has been stated by Norwegian engineer, the deal has been signed for nearly $600 millions (EUR 543 million or Rs. 4,030 crores). This statement came after a public share offer for the company failed.
The consortium that is led by Golden Brick Silk Road has bought both the mobile as well as the desktop version of the browser. Additionally, it has also taken an interest in performance and the privacy apps along with a considerable share in the Chinese joint venture. The browser though in its official statement disclosed that the firm has excluded advertising, games and television units.
The exchange of papers was declared after the public offer of nearly USD 1.2 billion (amounting to Rs 8,060 crores) failed drastically. The company gave no reason for such massive failure but did state in its last week statement to Oslo Stock Exchange that there was no big confirmation on the outcome as it did not receive approval from the regulatory committee by the end date of July 15.
Chief Executive Lars Boilesen quoted, "It wasn't that the approvals weren't given, just that it didn't happen before the deadline."
Golden Brick Silk Road fund is a Chinese consortium which incorporates Beijing Kunlun Tech which expertises in mobile games and digital security specialist Qihoo 360. Opera's management supported the proposed takeover as it would give the browsers access to the broad web client bases of both Kunlun and Qihoo in China.
Opera says its light and quick browser is used by more than 350 million consumers worldwide. One must recall that just last month the browser ranked fourth for mobile devices behind Google Chrome, Apple's Safari and Android Browser, as per the data shared by NetMarketShare, and ranked on the sixth position with respect to desktop computers.
"Opera acquisition do-over is interesting: it's now getting half as much ($600 million) for approximately one-quarter of its business," tweeted tech journalist Ingrid Lunden.
The purchase is being considered as a better option for Opera and it's expected that the purchase would close in the second half of this year. The advertising, games and television units generated 77 percent of Opera Software's $616 million in sales last year.
Opera's shares, which took a beating last week after the company warned the share offer might fail, fell by 15 percent in early trading on the Oslo stock exchange.
Also Read: Microsoft and Opera Fights over respective browsers
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