TSIG.com Acquires Affinity, Boosts Revenues
otcnn.com
TSIG.com Acquires Affinity, Boosts Revenues
By Peter Lim
Published by OTCNN.com
12/07/2000 09:21 AM CST
TeleServices Internet Group Inc. (OTCBB: TIGI), also known as TSIG.com, yesterday completed the acquisition of Affinity Group Inc., a loyalty marketing company that specializes in database mining, product development and direct-to-consumer sales. The synergies between Affinity and TSIG’s other subsidiary GeneralSearch.com are expected to result in sales exceed $25 million for the year 2000.
Scott Roix, the founder and CEO of Affinity, will take over the helm of the combined companies as chairman and CEO of TSIG.com. Jeff Bruss, the founder and CEO of GeneralSearch.Com, will continue to serve as vice-chairman of the board for TSIG.com, and will devote considerable attention to new business development.
“The first thing that (the acquisition) means to the company is significant revenue and cash flow,” Paul Henry, corporate secretary, treasurer and director of TSIG.com, said in an interview with OTCNN. “Neither (Affinity nor GeneralSearch.com) had very significant revenues. The combined revenues of the two companies were less than $1 million last year. Affinity is going to do more than $25 million (this year); this being the end of the year, we pretty much know what that figure is.”
“There are synergies between them,” Henry added. “Affinity does affinity marketing, loyalty programs and telemarketing so they can be an engine to drive traffic to GeneralSearch, and drive traffic and revenues to TSIG and the partners of its web sites. Essentially, we’re combining two marketing companies with a technology company.”
Headquartered in St. Petersburg, FL, TSIG.com reverse merged into GeneralSearch.Com, an Internet Search engine and portal, in June. TSIG.com forms myCard partnership agreements with national corporations and non-profits, and works with those partners to design revenue-generating programs. These customized marketing programs are intended to provide recurring revenues to TSIG.com and its partners, and help develop strong brand loyalty and awareness within target communities. TSIG.com also provides customer service and support with its Web-based call center and related services.
“Basically we’re forming these loyalty and marketing programs with major corporations and going to their customers and doing joint marketing programs where we do revenue sharing so we both make money,” Henry said. “We can distribute our product and the information through the Internet as well as through the telemarketing programs that Affinity does.”
Publicly traded since 1996, TSIG.com began as an inbound call center but the company soon found that it was not a profitable venture and moved into marketing. “We had relationships with a lot of major corporations but we didn’t have the mechanisms in place to make money off of those partnerships, nor did we have the management depth nor did we have enough technological expertise, ” Henry said. “Basically what we’ve done is we’ve married TSIG’s relationships with major corporations together with Affinity’s management skills and its skills in database mining and product development, along with GeneralSerach’s programming, technological and Internet expertise.”
As much as the company has increased its revenue flow for this year by pooling the resources and expertise of three companies, it expects to further multiply the $25 million “by a factor of two or three next year,” Henry said. One of the company’s objectives is to get off the bulletin board and onto a larger exchange, possibly by the second half of 2001, he added.
TSIG.com reports 31 million shares outstanding, 19.5 million of which are in float. The stock closed at $0.71 yesterday, down 9.55 percent, after trading 226,000 shares.
Disclaimer
OTC News Network is an unbiased, objective news source focusing exclusively on OTC Bulletin Board companies. We do NOT publish any paid editorial content. In addition, OTC News Network does NOT own any stock in any OTC Bulletin Board companies. None of the shareholders, officers and affiliated entities owns any stock in the companies mentioned in this article. This ensures that OTCNN can make its editorial decisions objectively. Companies included in the news stories have NOT paid a fee or any other form of compensation for their appearance. |
