Russell Irwin, Beau Chesluk and Anthony Rushton could each collect �11.6m from selling stake in online advertising start-up Telemetry
The creators of the James Bond GoldenEye computer game look set to become multimillionaires as they prepare to sell a significant stake in their online advertising company.
Russell Irwin and Beau Chesluk, who previously worked for Nintendo's British game designer Rare, are in talks to sell a 20.4% stake in their start-up Telemetry, which records data on the number of people who "click through" after watching online ads, for up to �35m. The pair and Anthony Rushton, a third co-founder, could each collect �11.6m.
Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse are understood to have entered into talks about buying the stake, which, if sold for the target price, would value the three-year-old company at �175m. Rushton confirmed that the company was in talks to sell the stake but refused to identify bidders. Several London venture capitalists are thought to be interested in buying into the company.
Deloitte has been brought in to ready the company for sale, and organise a beauty parade in Silicon Valley if Telemetry fails to attract a buyer in London. Deloitte predicts the company will be worth $786m (�486m) by 2014.
Rushton said the sale would be used to gauge the interest of institutional investors ahead of a London flotation by 2015: "We are growing rapidly and need to sell equity in the business in order to become a $1bn online video company before we float in a few years." Last year's adjusted profits were �5m on sales of �24m, the firm said.
The company recently signed a three-year deal to deliver and monitor ads for Reckitt Benckiser, maker of Cillit Bang, Dettol and Strepsils.
It has also signed a deal with Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer and home to Stella Artois, Beck's and Budweiser.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/19/goldeneye-game-creators-new-venture-telemetry
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