Quepassa Corp. (AMEX: QPSA) shares gained 33.5% to $9.52, after the social-media company said it would acquire the owner of myYearbook.com in a cash-and-stock deal worth $100 million. Volume for the stock topped five million shares, compared to a daily average of just over one million.
The company, based in West Palm Beach, Florida and owner of popular Latino social network Quepasa.com and cross-platform social game development studio Quepasa Games, announced in a news release Wednesday that it has executed a definitive agreement to merge with Insider Guides, Inc., DBA myYearbook, the best place to meet new people on the web or mobile device, for $100 million, comprised of approximately $82 million in Quepasa common stock and approximately $18 million in cash.
Quepassa CEO John Abbott was quoted in the same release as saying, “With this merger, we intend to create nothing less than the public market leader in social discovery.Combination with myYearbook nearly doubles the size of Quepasa’s existing user base while positioning the new company for significantly higher growth in mobile and social games, advertising, and virtual currency. The myYearbook team is product-oriented and hungry to continue building innovative products at the convergence of social and mobile. We expect the scale of this combination to enable a new class of investor in Quepasa.
Abbott concluded, “We believe myYearbook’s proven track record in monetization and engagement will fuel significant future growth.”
myYearbook makes meeting new people fun and easy online and on your mobile phone. myYearbook combines innovative social games, virtual goods, social applications, and a robust virtual currency called “Lunch Money” to facilitate introductions and break the ice. myYearbook started in a single high school in 2005 and has grown to over 32.7 million members worldwide.