Commentary

Hudson MX Discontinues Operations, Sale Plans Unclear

Editor's Note: An initial version of this story incorrectly reported that Comcast's FreeWheel division had acquired certain assets of Hudson MX and had take on some of its former team.

Short-lived, but storied agency tech startup Hudson MX appears to have turned its final corner, discontinuing operations this week, say sources familiar with the developments.

Ascential plc, the British holding company that acquired control of Hudson MX earlier this year and had been struggling to find a suitor to acquire it, declined to comment, and a Hudson MX spokesperson did not reply to MediaPost's request for a comment.

But Ascential, which itself is in the process of being acquired by another British holding company, Informa, had been indicating that while its sale of Hudson MX was "ongoing" with multiple potential suitors, it was taking longer than expected.

advertisement

advertisement

In July, publicly-traded Ascential disclosed it had slashed the value of Hudson MX and took a $28 million write-down on the assets.

On Sept. 11, Ascential issued its last public statement about Hudson MX, informing its shareholders that the proceeds from any sale would be "insufficient" to pay shareholders.

Ascential owned a controlling 89.7% share of Hudson MX's equity prior to its disposition, with the remaining 10.3% believed to be owned by a group of common shareholders including former Hudson MX CEO JT Batson (now CEO and Secretary General of the U.S. Soccer Federation), seed round investors Michael Kassan and his son Alexander Kassan, and possibly others who were part of a restructuring of Hudson MX's equity ownership in February 2023 that canceled the shares of all other common shareholders, including those of Hudson MX employees and contractors who exercised their options agreements.

Next story loading loading..