SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Equity Story Group (ASX:EQS) announced the execution of a binding Share Purchase Agreement to acquire 100% of Blue Tree Equity Pty Ltd, trading as A Rich Life, from interests associated with Claude Walker.

Consideration payable for the acquisition of Blue Tree Equity Pty Ltd is $500,000 in cash, payable in 3-year instalments. Settlement of the transaction is expected to occur on Friday 1st July 2022, a statement noted.

Mr Walker has also executed a binding Employment Agreement, with commencement of his employment on Friday 1st July 2022, conditional upon successful Settlement occurring.

The EQS IPO Prospectus, dated 4 February 2022, noted that the Company would work to grow the business via selected acquisitions which can add new paying subscribers and associated revenues, and which add a wider and deeper variety of content and analysis to Equity Story’s financial investor media offering.

Equity Story Group is also particularly interested in bringing new stock market analysts and financial commentators into its talent pool and broadening the types and variety of content available to subscribers.

Acquisition Benefits

The acquisition of A Rich Life and the employment of Claude Walker brings substantial advantages to the Company, including:

• A talented, passionate and informative new lead commentator to Equity Story podcasts and content offerings;

• By becoming an Authorised Representative of EQS’s AFSL, Claude Walker will be able to expand his commentary on ASX stocks and investment ideas;

• A new sub-brand servicing a younger audience, with a mix of content on news, political affairs, the arts, as well insightful market analysis and stock investment suggestions;

• Around 400 paying subscribers generating current annual revenues of approximately $154,000;

• A further 2,900 free members and a base for potential future paying subscribers;

• A small team of part-time contracted journalists and contributors; and

• Extensive cross-marketing and promotional opportunities across both brands.

What is A Rich Life?

A Rich Life is an online periodical covering ASX investing, the arts, and news which processes and condenses the torrent of informational noise people are subjected to each day to produce concise and intuitive content which questions the prevailing narrative. The objective of A Rich Life is to keep its readers informed about what matters, and challenging conventional wisdom with astute and penetrative analysis. www.arichlife.com.au

Claude Walker started his blog Ethical Equities in 2013 and began freelancing for Motley Fool Australia that same year, where he later become first the Research Analyst and then Advisor in charge of the small-cap stock recommendation service, Motley Fool Hidden Gems, from 2015 until 2018. From 2018, Claude worked as an analyst and automated content template creator for Simply Wall St.

Claude founded digital media platform A Rich Life in 2019 and has grown the audience and social media following substantially over the past 3 years.

Walker commented: “I am delighted to announce the sale of A Rich Life to Equity Story Group. As part of this transaction, I will be continuing in my role as Managing Editor of A Rich Life, which I am incentivised to grow. I look forward to assisting with the long-term success of Equity Story Group, in this role.

“This sale will increase the time I can spend reporting on the best investment opportunities and will also allow me to offer investment recommendations.

“I wish to wholeheartedly thank our supporters, as well as our friends and business partners. Without your support, collaboration, and encouragement, A Rich Life could not exist.”

Equity Story CEO Trent McGraw commented: “This acquisition marks our first step towards our wider mission to provide a deep variety of investment content, perspective and analysis as part of Equity Story’s financial investor media offering.

“We continue to seek acquisition discussions with other share market analysts and financial commentators to further broaden our content offering to our growing subscriber base.”