In a bid to bolster and grow its online business, the Walt Disney Co. (DIS) has purchase tween online social networking site "Club Penguin" for $350 million. In a short two-year period, the site has grown to one of the more popular online tween hangouts.
Over the last year the site has almost three times the users in the United States alone, with a lot of potential growth in international markets. With the Disney-branded sites already in existence, it promises to bring even faster growth in a relatively short time. The site currently has over 700,000 subscribers who pay around $5 monthly for the service.
Lane Merrifield, a Club Penguin co-founder, said concerning the deal, "We have been actively searching for an organization that not only shares our values and concerns for children, but also has the ability and desire to help us bring Club Penguin to more children throughout the world. We've found that partner in Disney."
The Club Penguin site is built around a variety of games and chatting tools for preteens, and inludes its popular virtual igloo in the paid version; something the free users aren't able to interact with.
Coming off of a strong quarter for the overall company, Disney CEO Bob Iger says the addition of Club Penquin should make an immediate impact on the company's profits.
There is nothing in the works to make any changes in Club Penguin's operations at this time by Disney.
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