Hasbro, Inc. acquired a majority stake in Backflip Studios. The Boulder, Colo.-based company develops mobile games including DragonVale, NinJump and Paper Toss. Hasbro paid $112 million in an all cash transaction for 70 percent of the company.
Founded in 2009 by Julian Farrior, Dale Thoms, and Tom Blind, Backflip Studios has become one of the fastest growing and most profitable mobile game studios with more than 300 million downloads of its popular games. Other titles in Backflip’s portfolio include Ragdoll Blaster, Army of Darkness Defense, and OutWorded. Backflip will continue to develop its own IP, as well as create mobile games featuring many of Hasbro’s best known brands. As part of the transaction, Backflip’s management team will continue to run the company, which will remain in Boulder. Hasbro anticipates the transaction to be neutral to slightly accretive to its 2013 financial results.
