DETROIT & SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gas Station TV (GSTV), America’s leading video network at the pump, and Verifone (NYSE: PAY), a world leader in payments and commerce solutions, today announced a 50-50 joint venture that combines the assets and operations of Verifone’s Pump Media division with GSTV, which is owned by Detroit-based Rockbridge Growth Equity and Falcon Investment Advisors. The combined business will operate under the GSTV brand and deliver 3.3 billion annual impressions through more than 18,000 locations in all 50 states by year’s end.
On par with other major media brands, the new GSTV will provide marketers with significant reach to a mass audience of 75 million unique viewers every month, including one-in-three adults 18 years and older and nearly 31 million millennials in the United States. National and regional marketers across all industry sectors now have a simple and effective way to reach valuable, highly attentive consumers in an increasingly fragmented media environment.
“We celebrate a milestone today as we formally join two leading media organizations in a powerful partnership,” said Joe Mach, President of Verifone North America. “Under the GSTV umbrella and with Verifone’s influential backing, we will draw on our collective partnerships and experiences to strategically accelerate growth, push the boundaries of technology, and deliver the proven effectiveness of video at the pump.”
Leading third party analytics partners have repeatedly shown that campaigns on the GSTV platform deliver compelling ROI for top global brands. From double-digit increases in quick service restaurant visitation to millions of dollars in incremental consumer packaged goods sales, and significant increases in awareness and purchase intent, GSTV’s sophisticated data solutions align with advertiser demand for transparency and accountability in their media budgets.
“Our new joint venture with Verifone is a game-changer for the industry,” said David Leider, President and CEO of the new GSTV. “The scale of GSTV's monthly unique viewership will compete with the largest cable networks and digital out-of-home platforms, reaching verified consumers when and where they are most receptive to real-time marketing messages. We are making it even easier for ad agencies to embrace gas video media, which provides unrivaled effectiveness in helping brands reach their business goals.”
Additional Joint Venture Highlights:
- The company will be located at the current GSTV headquarters in Detroit along with offices in New York and Los Angeles and other key business centers.
- Members of the existing GSTV and Verifone Pump Media management teams will lead the new joint venture.
- Both companies will have equal representation on the new company’s Board of Directors.
- GSTV is owned by Rockbridge Growth Equity and Falcon Investment Advisors.
- Sullivan & Cromwell served as legal counsel for Verifone.
- Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP served as legal counsel for GSTV.
- Peter J. Solomon Company acted as a strategic advisor on the deal and Stephens Inc. arranged the financing.
- Financial terms of the joint venture were not disclosed.
About the New Gas Station TV
Gas Station TV (GSTV) is the largest and most sophisticated national video network reaching active consumers. Delivering the hard to reach, on-the–go consumer, GSTV delivers one-on-one exposure to hundreds of millions of viewers every month at the nation’s leading gas retailers across the United States.
Offering an industry-leading experience, GSTV engages, influences and drives consumers to action on behalf of its advertisers and gas retailers with exclusive content. Viewers are offered engaging segments including sports from ESPN, news and entertainment from CNN’s Headline News, Buzz Today, and Fusion Now, business and personal finance reports from Bloomberg TV, weather updates from AccuWeather, trending/viral topics from What’s Trending, The List, and all things tech from CNET.
GSTV can be viewed throughout the country at leading gas retailers like Speedway, Circle K, Tesoro, Sunoco, BP, Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, Gulf, Arco, Marathon, Exxon-Mobil, Shell and Murphy USA.
For more information, please visit GSTV.com or engage with us on Twitter @GasStationTV, Facebook.com/GasStationTV or LinkedIn.com/company/Gas-Station-TV.
About Verifone
Verifone is transforming everyday transactions into opportunities for connected commerce. We’re connecting payment devices to the cloud—merging the online and in-store shopping experience and creating the next generation of digital engagement between merchants and consumers. We are built on a 35-year history of uncompromised security with approximately 30 million devices and terminals deployed worldwide. Our people are trusted experts that work with our clients and partners, helping to solve their most complex payments challenges. We have clients and partners in more than 150 countries, including the world’s best-known retail brands, financial institutions and payment providers.
Verifone.com | (NYSE: PAY) | @verifone
About Rockbridge Growth Equity
Founded in 2007, Rockbridge Growth Equity, LLC is a Detroit, Michigan-based private equity firm that invests in financial and business services, consumer-direct marketing, and sports, media & entertainment industries. Rockbridge owns equity stakes in Northcentral University, Protect America, Connect America, Rapid Advance, Gas Station TV, ABUV Media and Robb Report, and is affiliated with other leading businesses in its target sectors including Quicken Loans, the 2016 NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers, Title Source and Fathead. Since its inception, Rockbridge Growth Equity has managed more than $500 million of equity in its portfolio of companies. For more information on Rockbridge Growth Equity, visit www.rbequity.com.
About Falcon Investment Advisors
Falcon is a private equity firm that invests subordinated debt and equity capital in leading middle-market companies. With more than $2.6 billion of capital under management and an experienced investment team, Falcon is a responsive and resourceful financing partner. Falcon provides $25–$75 million of capital per transaction and is investing through its current fund, Falcon Strategic Partners V, LP.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for VeriFone Systems, Inc.
This press release includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations or beliefs and on currently available competitive, financial and economic data and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements herein due to changes in economic, business, competitive, technological and/or regulatory factors, and other risks and uncertainties affecting the operation of the business of VeriFone Systems, Inc., including many factors beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those associated with: the ability of the new petro media joint venture to successfully attract meaningful digital media advertising for its expanded network of screens, execution of our strategic plan and business initiatives and whether the expected benefits of our plan and initiatives are achieved, short product cycles and rapidly changing technologies, our ability to maintain competitive leadership position with respect to our payment solution offerings, our assumptions, judgments and estimates regarding the impact on our business of the continued uncertainty in the global economic environment and financial markets, our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses into our business and operations, our ability to protect against fraud, the status of our relationship with and condition of third parties such as our contract manufacturers, distributors and key suppliers upon whom we rely in the conduct of our business, our dependence on a limited number of customers, the conduct of our business and operations internationally, our ability to effectively hedge our exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, and our dependence on a limited number of key employees. For a further list and description of the risks and uncertainties affecting the operations of our business, see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual report on Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date such statements are made. Verifone is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.
