Akamai Acquires Nine Systems

The reports from last week were on the money: Akamai said today that it has acquired Nine Systems for $7 million in cash and 3.1 miilion shares of Akamai stock, valuing the deal at about $160 million. Nine Systems specializes in streaming media, with a customer list that includes the NHL, the NBA, CBS SportsLine, CinemaNow, Universal Music Group, EMI Music, Amazon, and Fox. Streaming is a busy deal sector, as Vitalstream was bought by Internap last month.

"We are excited about offering a new and comprehensive solution for the delivery, management, and control of online media assets," said Paul Sagan, president and CEO of Akamai. "Nine Systems has established itself as a leader in the creation of powerful Web-based tools for businesses to easily produce, publish, and distribute their streaming and downloadable media. Integrating Stream OS into our delivery network will allow Akamai to more fully support asset control, rights management, and media reporting to better enable our customers' digital media businesses."

"This is a big win for our customers, and for companies requiring rich media management, publishing, and robust delivery," said Troy Snyder, president and CEO of Nine Systems. "Nine Systems' rich media publishing and management tools already power the online media experience for some of today's best known companies in the music, broadcast, sports, entertainment, inspirational, advertising, education, and government markets. By joining forces with Akamai, our customers will have access to the leader in accelerating content and applications online, supported by a combination of the most experienced teams in the industry."