ZANOX CONTINUES EXPANSION BY ACQUIRING THE FREE NETWORK BUSINESS IN SWEDEN
Fastest growing online marketing company strengthens Nordic position
2nd April, 2007, 3PM, Stockholm, Sweden –
zanox, the global market leader in performance-based multichannel
commerce, today announces its acquisition of Free Network, an online marketing agency in Stockholm,
Sweden. Free Network will be immediately incorporated into zanox’ newly founded central Nordic hub,
managing programs in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.
Free Network was founded in 2003 and provided online marketing services
with expertise in strategy, performance -based affiliate programs, media planning and optimization.
Frederic Saigne, owner of Free Network comments, “Free Network has been extremely successful in the
Nordic countries, with this new integration we are able to exploit the our global reach of zanox
and still retain our local expertise to enable Nordic companies to monetise the internet on a
global basis.”
Thomas Hessler, CEO comments, “We are really pleased to add a strong
Nordic hub to our business, we are the only online marketing company that can give our partners a
true one stop global solution. We will continue to lead the revolution in the way companies are
running their online business.”
This latest acquisition reconfirms zanox’ global growth strategy to
purchase regional expertise and compatible best of breed technology. Both zanox and Free Network
are based on the CPA (cost per action) model, where advertisers only pay for success, such as sales
or registrations. Free Network has been a partner of zanox for the past three years and has
business and consumer clients including the mobile network Tre, Procter & Gamble, NetonNet and
ELLOS.
Recent figures published by Eurostat (Nov 2006) show that home Internet
penetration in Sweden and Denmark is amongst the highest in Europe with 77% and 79% connected
respectively. Forrester Research 2006 has predicted that the online retail sales in the Nordic
region will grow from 10,525 million Euros in 2007 to 23,074 million in 2011.
Heiko Rauch, zanox’ CFO, comments, “We are growing both organically and
through acquisitions into new countries and territories. We pride ourselves on being able to move
exceptionally quickly, reacting to our customers needs and make the right acquisitions,” he
continues “We plan to continue our strategic growth and expect to purchase more companies in the
future.”
About zanox
zanox is the market leader for performance-based multichannel commerce.
zanox XS provides a global solution for efficiently marketing products and services on the
Internet. Besides affiliate marketing and search engine management, zanox’s online marketing
services include e-mail marketing, online shopping and customer loyalty programs. More than 1,800
prestigious international companies such as Allianz, Amazon, Axa, Citibank, DaimlerChrysler,
Expedia, Jamster, Lycos, Procter & Gamble, Sixt, Staples, Vodafone and many more rely on
zanox's strategic distribution channel. zanox currently works with more than one million sales
partners worldwide and offers local support in over 30 countries. zanox partners secure permanent,
first-class revenues by advertising on websites, search engines, as well as in e-mails and
software. zanox was founded in 2000 by CEOs Thomas Hessler, Heiko Rauch and Jens Hewald and
currently employs more than 260 people. The company operates in an extremely dynamic future-facing
market, realizing well above-average growth.