Neopets Inc. owner of Neopets.com is now part of children programming lineup of Viacom' MTV Networks, in a deal worth about $160 million. The youth-oriented website will now join the family of SpongeBob SquarePants and Rugrats.
Neopets.com, one of the most popular web sites among youth with more than 5 billion page views a month, has reached almost 25-million members. Almost three quarters of its members are children under the age
of 17.
Viacom is now in control of Neopia, a mythical world full of virtual pets, such as Gelerts, Wockies, Scorchios or other species kids can play on-line with, after creating an account.
They can also play interactive games, exchange messages and submit stories, poems and comics. Until now 141 million Neopets have been created.
The special powered creatures of Neopia will also be the stars of a new movie produced by The Warner Brothers unit of Time Warner Inc.
The New York-based Viacom, which parents MTV Networks Inc., CBS Corp. and Paramount Pictures Corp. hopes to expand its merchandising business with the help of the Neopets purchase, according to the New York Times.
NeoPets chairman and CEO Doug Dohring and other senior executives will still manage the company from its base in Glendale, California, according to Reuters Agency.
The new alignment will expand the Neopets brand offline into television, movies and publishing, said Dohring, who previously stated that the site's original characters offer "tremendous opportunity for creative innovation."
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