Opera’s Company Name Sells for $600 Million

Opera was set to be acquired for $1.2 billion, however, the offer has now been terminated. Renegotiations led to an acquisition of only certain parts of Opera’s business, approximately ¼ of the company, for $600 million.

The company will sell the Qihoo 360-led consortium, its mobile and desktop browser operations, performance and privacy apps, Opera’s 29% stake in Chinese JV Horizon and its tech licensing not including Opera TV. The Opera name and trademark are part of the deal as well.

Opera’s remaining business will include Opera Mediaworks, Opera Apps & Games (including Bemobi) and Opera TV, along with about 560 of the 1,669 original employees. It will also have 18 months to find a new name.

Opera is a Norwegian software company, founded in 1995, primarily known for its Opera family web and mobile browsers. Its browsers have more than 350 million users worldwide and compete with some of the strongest out there like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.