Iconic Labs PLC (LON:ICON) has acquired website Gay Star News (GSN), one of the world’s leading sources of news for the LGBTI+ community.
The media and technology group said the acquisition formed part of its strategy to build “critical mass” and expand the distribution channels available under its brand offering.
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Founded in 2011, GSN is one of the top three LGBTI publishers in the UK with around 800,000 Facebook followers and a strong celebrity base backing it.
The acquisition saw Iconic buy Nuuco Media, a company created by Iconic director David Sefton to buy the Gay Star News brand out of voluntary liquidation.
Iconic said as the title had generated £500,000 of revenue in 2018 this indicated it would easily repay the £33,000 owed to liquidators.
The company said it planned to work on a “rebrand and relaunch” of the title in the coming months which would not require “significant working capital” to bring the brand back into profitability in a short time frame.
John Quinlan, Iconic’s chief executive, said the acquisition was “a further step forward” in the firm’s efforts to build a platform for the distribution and creation of online content.
"GSN is one of the most credible and professional publishers for an LGBTI audience. We believe that strong editorial independence and high levels of engagement and interaction is very important to both the LGBTI community, brand and long term prospects of the business, and we are looking forward to working on making GSN a success”, he added.
In early trading on Monday, the shares were 8.8% higher at 0.14p.