It looks like the fate of Movable Type is no longer in American hands as Say Media has announced that they are selling Movable Type to an IT firm located in the land of the rising sun.
As part of this new strategic focus and our commitment to reinvigorate the TypePad business, SAY Media has agreed to sell Six Apart’s wholly owned Japanese subsidiary, Six Apart KK (“SAKK”), and with it the Movable Type (“MT”) publishing platform, to Japanese IT services company Infocom. There will be no change to Movable Type’s future development as a result of this transaction.
Under the terms of this agreement, SAY Media is selling 100% of SAKK shares to Infocom, as well as complete control and ownership of Movable Type intellectual property. In addition, Infocom and SAKK will now hold all rights to the SixApart name. (Official Say Media Blog)
Say Media has not disclosed how much Infocom paid to acquire Movable Type, although Infocom’s press release does provide more details regarding the acquisition (note: they mention 10 million worth of capital which I assume is in Yen not US dollars).
As far as Typepad goes, Say Media is going to pour its efforts into revitalizing the platform which they see as critical towards their strategy of becoming a major ad platform within the blogosphere.
While Movable Type’s future as a major publishing tool may diminish in the future (at least outside the shores of Japan), their exodus could open the door for their cousin Melody (the latter which is starting to show promise despite being in beta).
