NTN Buzztime Buys Stump! Trivia

NTN Buzztime, Inc. announced on Monday the acquisition of the hosted live trivia event business Stump! Trivia from Trailside Entertainment, Inc.

Stump! Trivia, operating mainly in the Northeastern states, conducts approximately 300 hosted live competitive trivia events a week in bars, restaurants and at special events. Stump! was founded 12 years ago by Bob Carney who will join Buzztime and remain with the business.

One of Stump!'s key assets is its staff of professional hosts, better known as "trivia jockeys" who function as part player recruiter, part MC and part advocate for the venues by encouraging incremental sales of food and drinks. Combined with Buzztime's on-screen programming of trivia content under his/her control, a good trivia jockey can attract a sizeable group of patrons on what might otherwise be a slow night.

Stump! hosted trivia experience joins Buzztime’s network of 3,900 bars and restaurants, with a base of over 2 million registered players. Terms of the transaction, which were structured as an asset purchase, require NTN to pay $0.25 million plus an earn out in each of 2012, 2013, and 2014 that is dependent on gross margins achieved by the Stump! business. The effect of the Stump! acquisition is expected to improve Buzztime's profitability and cash flow for the balance of 2011 and 2012, when considered on a standalone basis without potential synergies and not giving effect to the purchase price.