August 31st, 2007 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »
After the news of the Redboss Merger with Mliven, our mailbox received many questions and new rumours about the whole situation on the Czech mobile gaming and content market. Jan Rezab, former CEO of RedBoss and now Vice President of Mliven gave MobileGamesBlog.com an exclusive interview.
[Arjan] What is the strategy behind the Merger with Mliven?
[Jan] The deal was primarily about Redboss getting paid. For a long time, we were working on interesting deals, but they were not generating enough cash flow for the time being, thus it was necessary. The deal is a standard connection for both companies.
[Arjan] So in the business plan of redboss, this means the company was focussing at too much stuff, leading into a position where the market share on all levels was not strong enough to have a steady future?
[Jan] Yes, exactly. As a company, we were focused on too many areas, and so on many of them, we were unable to hold a steady cash flow. As MLiven, we have around 100 fulltime employees to take care of that, and the company has been a stable company with a stable management team.
[Arjan] Does this mean, with the merger, all activities of Redboss will continue, or will there now be a clear set of core activities where you will concentrate on?
[Jan] Most of the Redboss activities have already been integrated or are being integrated with the MLiven activities. Most of the deals and projects will continue with some changes in structure, and with a strict set of priorities.
[Arjan] Both RedBoss and Mliven are big players on the Czech market. What is your view on the combined company?
[Jan] Combined, our strength on the Czech and Slovak market is unique. Connecting our two companies, we now have the power of over 100 fulltime employees. We are an official aggregator of Vodafone, T-Mobile, and a distributor into O2 Czech Republic. We are a capable partner to promote and sell mobile games and help with any game development.
[Arjan] Will the name RedBoss stay on the market?
[Jan] Yes, Redboss as itself in the world has been known more as a gaming brand, and has been built like it. We plan on keeping the Redboss name for the division of MLiven that takes care of mobile games, and all mobile gaming related activities.
