RealNetworks To Sell Slingo And Social Casino Games Business To Gaming Realms

(RTTNews) - RealNetworks, Inc. (RNWK) said Friday that it has agreed to sell the Slingo and Social Casino portion of its games business to Gaming Realms plc (GMR.L), a London-based online gaming company, for $18 million.

Under the terms of the agreement, RealNetworks will sell certain assets used in its social games business, including its U.S. and Canadian game studios, and social and mobile freemium portfolio games, such as Slingo Adventure, Slingo Shuffle and GameHouse Casino Plus. The sale also includes the Slingo brand and patents; Mahjong.com, Sudoku.com and Slingo.com domains; a short term license to the GameHouse brand; and a perpetual license to the GameHouse Promotion Network.

Consideration for the sale is expected to be $18 million, $10 million of which will be paid in cash at closing, with the remainder payable either all in cash or a mix of cash and Gaming Realms stock, at RealNetworks' election, on the first and second anniversaries of closing.

As part of the sale, about sixty employees of the business will become employees of Gaming Realms.

RealNetworks said it remains committed to its traditional casual games business, which it runs worldwide under the GameHouse brand. That business and team, which is headquartered in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, is unaffected by the pending sale to Gaming Realms.