Rovio investment deal to value company at $1.2 billion
Sources say that Rovio is in negotiations with a major entertainment company
Angry Birds creator Rovio is negotaiting a deal for funding that would value the company at around $1.2 billion, Bloomberg reports.
Sources close to the deal say that the investment is from a company in the entertainment business. Rovio has already rejected offers from several other, similar investors.
Rovio intends to use the money to grow the Angry Birds IP into a multimedia franchise. An animated feature film is already in production, and Rovio is poised to launch the Angry Birds clothing and plush toy lines in more than 200 shops in China.
Last month, Rovio vice president Ville Heijari told Eurogamer that he saw the company's valuation "somewhere north of PopCap."
In a speech at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference this week, Peter Vesterbecka, head of Rovio Mobile, said that Rovio no longer regarded itself as a games company.