In a bold move, Woonsocket-based Mediaweave Inc., announced Friday the sale of RI Soft Systems, its consumer software division, to Waite Park, Minn.-based Freeze.com LLC. The sale was a cash transaction and the largest deal to date for the company, Mediaweave said in a press release.
RI Soft Systems was founded 16 years ago in 1988 by current President and CEO of Mediaweave, Eric G. Robichaud, with the goal of becoming the developer of high-quality screensavers. RI Soft Systems has been regarded as the leader in screensaver development.
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Since the mid-1990s an increasing number of corporate clients continued to approach RI Soft Systems to develop screensavers for their corporate marketing purposes. Eyeing this trend and opportunity, RI Soft Systems added design and marketing-communications capabilities through the acquisition of Providence-based
Mediaweave in 1999.
The company continued to build and grow its marketing-communications and creative design groups through high-profile acquisitions of competitive firms and strategic hiring. In 2003, the company solidified its long-term strategic focus by formally renaming itself Mediaweave, and established RI Soft Systems as its consumer software division.
“For 16 years RI Soft Systems was my baby, so the sale is bittersweet,” said Robichaud in the release. “However, children grow and businesses mature. With the exceptional year-over-year growth of our B-to-B revenue on the Mediaweave side, and slower growth in the consumer division, this deal gives Mediaweave the opportunity to focus on our core services of marketing, design and technology.”
Until the sale, one-third of Mediaweave’s resources were dedicated to RI Soft Systems’ initiatives. Now, Mediaweave is positioned to converge 100 percent of its resources in an effort to continue building the business, and play a significant role in the marketplace.
Mediaweave, a privately held company, is an integrated marketing and technology solutions firm that has helped corporations of all sizes improve their marketing programs, corporate identity and logo creation, Web design and development and
enterprise application development projects. Mediaweave services organizations both locally and worldwide, including AAi.FosterGrant, RGB Architects, Sony, Wal-Mart, Bacardi, Folgers Coffee, the San Diego Chargers, AT&T, Harley-Davidson and AOL.
