Industry commentator Mark Ritson is lining up a big pay day after digital media, marketing and technology company Brave Bison has confirmed it has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire the eLearning business he founded, MiniMBA, from Centaur Media in a deal worth up to £19m.
If it goes ahead, the acquisition would be the fourth transaction by Brave Bison this year, closely following the purchase of digital agency The Fifth last month from News Corp.
While many organisations offer MiniMBA training, Ritson’s MBA-level tuition was one of the first to focus exclusively on marketing. It is run through an online learning platform to around 6,000 delegates every year, and has trained almost 40,000 professionals to date.
It is open directly to marketers, and has also been adopted by major brand advertisers looking to train their marketing teams, including John Lewis, Tesco, Google, Nestle and Carlsberg.
The transaction would see Ritson, the ex-London Business School marketing professor turned marketing guru, become a top ten shareholder in Brave Bison, joining Lord Ashcroft and News Corp.
MiniMBA would form the cornerstone of a new eLearning and business intelligence division for Brave Bison.
The new division’s products will be cross sold to Brave Bison’s existing base of over 120 clients, many of which employ alumni of MiniMBA. As part of the group, MiniMBA would also leverage Brave Bison’s AI, digital marketing and technology services, including near-shore hubs for product development.
In a statement Brave Bison said: “Whilst the parties remain in exclusive negotiations in respect of the potential acquisition until 19 June 2025, there can be no certainty that the acquisition will conclude nor the terms on which any acquisition will conclude. Further announcements will be made as appropriate, in due course.”
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