Digitalbox acquires The Life Network from Media Chain Group

LONDON: Digitalbox plc (AIM: DBOX), the mobile-first digital media business has exchanged contracts to acquire the digital assets of The Life Network from Media Chain Group Limited for a total consideration of £200,000.

The acquisition is subject to completion of satisfactory testing by Digitalbox, as set out below, and is expected to be earnings enhancing on completion.

Media Chain Group Limited was previously part of the broader Social Chain business established in Manchester in 2014. Social Chain became part of The Social Chain AG business in 2019 and operated in two divisions, an agency that was sold in the spring of 2023 and the media division (Media Chain Group Limited) that houses 20+ social pages with over 60m followers.

The Acquisition provides Digitalbox with the opportunity to extend its audience reach through The Life Network’s 5.6m Facebook followers and 357k Instagram followers. The assets made losses of £400 in 2024 after all activity was paused on them in the middle of the year. The combined follower base is expected to add almost 6m to the 21m currently owned by Digitalbox.

Completion of the acquisition is conditional upon the satisfactory testing, by Digitalbox, through a licence agreement which is in operation until mid-June 2025. The total Consideration for the acquisition to be paid is £200,000, with £20,000 payable immediately on Exchange as a non-refundable deposit to trigger the license, and a further £180,000 conditionally payable on completion – which is anticipated to be within three months from the date of Exchange.

The consideration will be funded from the Group’s existing cash resources, which at 31 December 2025 were approximately £2.1 million. The Acquisition will be undertaken via Digitalbox Publishing Limited, which is wholly owned by the Company.

The directors expect that the Acquisition will be earnings enhancing at the point the Digitalbox management team chooses to advance to Completion.

James Carter, CEO, Digitalbox, said: “The opportunity to acquire some of the Media Chain Group assets is an excellent way for us to extend the audiences currently being served by the Digitalbox brands. With The Life Network containing a significant female US audience footprint, we believe there are plenty of synergies to build around our new site, Royal Insider, which is already presenting traction in this market. The management team will get to work straight away on proving this case before Completion.”

Christian Grobel, CEO, Media Chain Group Limited, said: “We are pleased to be offering these assets to a great home. The audience bases we have built will complement the Digitalbox portfolio and benefit from the Company’s talented editorial teams. We wish them the best of luck with the next stage of development for their brands.”