Zed Group

Zed Group is a large organisation of privately held interlocking European companies that provide mobile phone and internet entertainment, film animation and video game production. Besides the main company also named Zed, other important companies of Zed Group are Ilion Animation Studios –production company specialized in computer-generated animation feature films like Planet 51- and Pyro Studios –video game developer including "Commandos".

Zed Group
TypePrivate
IndustryDigital entertainment
Founded1996
HeadquartersMadrid, Spain
Key people
Javier Perez Dolset (CEO)
ProductsProducts and services for mobile phones and Internet
BrandsZed
Number of employees
2,000 (50% dedicated to R&D + innovation)

Zed is a multiplatform digital entertainment company based in Spain that develops and markets entertainment and community products and services for all platforms. The company provides mobile phone value-added services (MVAS) services. Zed operates in 60 countries, including Europe's largest markets, United States, India and China and holds agreements with 170 wireless operators all over the world, reaching 500 million mobiles subscribers.[1]

Zed is characterized for its development in services in the field of interactive leisure and entertainment, in mobile phones as well as the Internet. The range of products and services of Zed are 85% internally developed and available for the following platforms: Brew, Java, Symbian, Mac and Windows.

History

The Perez Dolset family founded the company in Spain in 1996. The family launched the web portal LaNetro, whose objective was to offer interactive leisure and entertainment content accessible from any device with access to the internet.

In 2002, they decided to focus on value added services for mobile phones. Two years later, La Netro acquired a mobile phone content provider, Zed, from Nordic operator TeliaSonera. The company changed its name to LaNetro Zed and kept Zed as its brand for mobile content and services.

Four years later, in December 2006 Zed acquired Monstermob, one of its competitors based in the United Kingdom.[2] That same year Zed acquired Alvento, a Spanish mobile phone services company.[3]

In February 2007, Zed marketed the first web 2.0-based platform integrating mobile phones and web services. LaNetro Zed becomes Zed Worldwide. Later that year, Zed grossed $100 million in revenue in a single month.[4] In the United States, Zed began to offer its content via RingToneJukeBox.com.[5]

By early 2008 Zed Group established a joint venture with Grupo Planeta to manage the local guides LaNetro.com business. In addition, Zed acquired Netpeople in the Latin America.

In August 2008, Zed merged with two other companies founded by the Perez Dolset brothers, Pyro Studios (video game developer including Commandos) and Ilion Animation Studios (production company specialized in computer-generated animation of feature films).

Besides, Zed has announced an agreement with the NBA to expand the league's mobile phone offerings reaching basketball fans throughout North America, Europe and countries in Asia.[6] Also, Zed has acquired Mobitween, a developer and publisher of Flash-based content for mobile and online environments.[7]

In 2009, Zed acquired Player X,[8] a British mobile media company specializing in Operators Portal Management, games and mobile TV & Video and Temafon, the exclusive content aggregator to one of the "big three" Russian operators Beeline which is closely associated with Amsterdam based VEON formerly PJSC VimpelCom.[lower-alpha 1] During 2009 Zed also started operations in Brazil, and holds today operations in 60 countries. Another remarkable step for the group during 2009 corresponds to sister company Ilion Animation Studios, which premiered in November Planet 51, the highest-grossing Spanish movie globally in 2009.

In July 2015 Ilion Animation Studios signed a contract with Paramount Pictures to animate Wonder Park. The film is being produced on a budget of about 100 million euros, making it the largest budget to date for any movie produced in Spain.[13] In 2019, Zed Group sued its primary investor for market manipulation,[14] with the case dismissed in 2021.[15]

Products and services

The company provides mobile marketing solutions,[16] consulting services and application development for companies and in the public sector, with these services under its business unit Zed Business Solutions.

In 2009, Zed started the Zed TV business unit. On the D2C segment, Zed owns a catalog of games for mobile phones and Internet.

in 2010 the company started a division named iZ, to apply the company's experience in videogames development to social media.[17]

In November 2009 Zed launched Planet 51 Online, a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) available for desktops and laptops, based on the computer-generated animated movie Planet 51. The game allows players to an online virtual world populated by other film fans connected via the internet.[18]

On 2013 Zed launched 24 Symbols a Spanish platform for E-books and digital entertainment.[19][20]

Notes
  1. The "big three" mobile providers in Russia were MegaFon, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) and Beeline now known as Amsterdam based VEON which was formerly PJSC VimpelCom.[9][10][11][12]

References
  1. "Digital Marketing". Zed. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  2. Bowers, Simon (27 December 2006). "Zed to acquire majority stake in MonsterMob". Retrieved 7 September 2016 – via The Guardian.
  3. Lanetro Zed acquires Spanish rival Alvento
  4. Zed makes $100m in a month
  5. Zed USA makes it official
  6. "Earth Times: show/nba-teams-with-zed-to-expand-mobile-content-offerings,535293.shtml". Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  7. Zed acquires Mobitween
  8. "Zed acquires Player X for mobile games, TV and video". Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  9. "Svyazinvest Puts Cell Assets Up for Sale". Kommersant. 25 June 2007. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  10. Балашова, Анна (Balashova, Anna); Ерохина, Инна (Erokhina, Inna) (25 May 2010). ""МегаФон" больше не третий: Оператор впервые стал вторым среди "большой тройки"" [MegaFon is no longer the third: The operator became the second among the "big three" for the first time]. Kommersant (in Russian). Retrieved 5 February 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. "Крупнейшие телекоммуникационные компании России" [The largest telecommunication companies in Russia]. cnews.ru (in Russian). 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  12. ""Большая тройка" отчиталась" [The Big Three has reported]. Kommersant (in Russian). 13 March 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  13. "Ilion entra en la gran liga de la animación" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 26 July 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  14. Urreiztieta, Esteban (24 February 2021), The judge confirms the dismissal of Mikhail Fridman in the 'Zed case', Madrid, Spain: El Mundo, p. 1, retrieved 25 May 2021
  15. Judge García Castellón confirms the file of the case for the Russian magnate Mikhail Fridman for the bankruptcy of Zed, Spain: Europa Press, 24 February 2021, p. 1, retrieved 25 May 2020
  16. ""La próxima revolución digital puede acabar con la banca convencional"" (in Spanish). El Confidencial. 20 February 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  17. Segovia, Adrián (11 November 2010). "Zed apuesta por los juegos en las redes sociales" (in Spanish). El País. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  18. "Zed desarrolla el juego online de la película de animación Planet 51" (in Spanish). NoticiasDot. 1 October 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  19. Dorronsoro, Lucía (25 July 2013). "Aitor Grandes: ¿Pioneros? ¡Llegamos antes que el iPad!" (in Spanish). ABC. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  20. "La española Zed compra el 32 % de la "Spotify de los libros"" (in Spanish). La Razón. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
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