Arlington, Virginia-based New Media Strategies is getting some positive press from Ad Age, thanks to a novel buy out strategy that awards not just the owners of the agency but the employees, as well.
New Media Strategies was acquired by Meredith Corp. back in 2007. When that deal closed, CEO Pete Snyder and fellow founders set aside a stock pool to reward employees who stuck around.
Three years later, that stock pool has appreciated to $2.5 million, meaning the 30 employees out of 50 that remain are getting checks valued between $80,000 and $105,000 this week. Not a bad reward for helping Mr. Snyder and other shareholders make their earn-outs.
More recently, Des Moises-based Meredith–publisher of Better Homes & Gardens, Ladies’ Home Journal, Family Circle, Midwest Living and several other popular titles–boosted its marketing services arm of the company via another acquisition, this time in mobile.
According to Ad Age, Meredith acquired mobile hotshop The Hyperfactory this month after taking an initial stake in the agency responsible for the much-loved Kraft iFood Assistant app one year ago.
I’ve long been impressed with Meredith. They’re a successful publisher and a successful marketing services provider. That’s the page I’m on–on a much smaller scale, of course–with AdPulp and Bonehook.
[UPDATE] Word on the street is several NMS staffers flew the coop after they received their payouts. But that sounds like a relatively natural process to me.