Link Mobility, a Norwegian mobile messaging and communications company, has bought Newport Beach-based Message Broadcast LLC, a provider of voice and text communications for blue-chip companies in the U.S., for $260 million.
Privately held Message Broadcast works with large U.S. companies such as utilities, healthcare and financial institutions, as well as government customers, all with mission-critical communication needs.
“Our software and network help companies communicate with their customers for a variety of automated interactions,” Bill Joiner, the chief executive of Message Broadcast, told the Business Journal on June 18, two days after the acquisition was announced.
The communications range from emergency warnings about wildfire dangers here in California, to notifications about utility outages, hurricane protection measures on the East Coast and a utility SMS billing platform.
Other applications include notifying utility customers about deferred payment plans during a health crisis or natural disaster that affects their ability to pay on time, meaning that companies aren’t swamped with consumer telephone calls.
For example, Message Broadcast says it “helped one utility deploy proactive, no-contact payment arrangements digitally to 500,000 customers in just 3 weeks in response to COVID-19.”
Customer Alerts
Joiner said the company’s service “most predominantly automates critical communications for utilities, adherence communications for healthcare manufacturers and transactional communications for financial firms.”
“Our services automate customer interactions between a brand and its customer,” he said. It also includes “alerts relative to your utility bill or your safety.”
Joiner said Message Broadcast distributes emergency communications for utilities in more than 20 languages.
“If you look at different verticals like the U.S. utility market, we distribute communications to about 35% of the citizens in the U.S. underneath those utilities.
“For some of the largest financial institutions, we distribute communications to more than 50 countries,” he said. “Leveraging technology to automate conversational interactions between brands and consumers reduces inbound call center activity and ensures customers stay safe and informed.”
Staying Local
Even after the sale to the Norwegian company is closed, “our team at Message Broadcast will continue to stay on,” said Joiner, and it is expected the Newport Beach firm will operate as a subsidiary under the current name.
“We’re looking forward to expanding our presence across the U.S,” Joiner said.
“The partnership with Link has some great opportunity for us given Link’s footprint as an international and European leader in communications.”
Message Broadcast has about 60 employees, and was advertising for four openings as of June 21.
The Link Mobility purchase of Message Broadcast closed on June 23.
Oslo-based Link Mobility said the acquisition will be immediately “accretive,” meaning it will be profitable after it’s acquired.
Link said the acquisition of Message Broadcast will advance its position in the U.S. and significantly contribute to the organic growth and profitability of the group.
Joiner said the pandemic has increased the need to automate interactions with customers.
“That’s brought it to the top of the agenda for many companies and we’re seeing that across many different segments of industry—financial services, healthcare, utilities,” he said.
