Opera TV offers an HTML5 platform to bring the web experience to TVs and counts over 60 customers with over 40 million connected devices, including smart TVs and set-top boxes. Customers include Sony, Samsung, TiVo, Verizon and Sagemcom. Opera TV has operated as a separate business unit since 2013, and reported revenue of USD 20.3 million in the first nine months of 2016 and adjusted EBITDA of USD 9.0 million.
Aneesh Rajaram will continue to lead the business as Opera TV's CEO, and Opera will maintain a minority stake in the business. Opera said it plans to use the proceeds from the transaction to pay an extraordinary dividend next year.
Separately, Opera said it expects annual results to be slightly below expectations due to softness in the mobile advertising business. Excluding Opera TV, the company expected USD 540-570 million in revenue and USD 45-55 million in adjusted EBITDA. Opera now expects to end the year "just below" these numbers. Mobile ad revenues are still expected to grow around 15 percent in the full year but will be down around 10 percent in Q4. Similar trends are expected to continue in Q1 2017.
