Wealthy young entrepreneur Bob Cheng buys online advertising network

PermissionCorp, the permission-based marketing company owned by wealthy young entrepreneur Bob Cheng, has acquired independent online advertising group Digital Sales Network for an undisclosed sum.

Cheng, who was valued at $17 million on last year BRW’s Young Rich list, operates the Rewards Central business, which gives its members reward points for reading online advertisements.

The company operates similar businesses in Cheng’s native Taiwan, New Zealand and Hong Kong, and was a member of SmartCompany’s Smart50 in 2008, with revenue of $15 million.

DNS is PermissionCorp’s first acquisition. The company represents 25 Australian sites, including Seek, mp3.com.au and the Australian Open’s website, as well as 50 international sites.

Jeff Glazer, business development, marketing and sales director at PermissionCorp said the acquisition will allow the group to offer bundled solutions including targeted permission emails and traditional online advertising.

“Importantly, our offering is now far broader than only incentive driven campaigns.”

Cheng said in a statement that the company is looking to expand over the next three to five years.

“Although this is our first ever acquisition, I doubt it will be our last. Even though we have grown organically and very quickly up until now… I am also considering other strategic investments. I already have my eyes on a number of other acquisition opportunities, and we are rolling out a number of innovative products in the next few months.”

DNS managing director Adam Hobson will continue to run that business, while PermissionCorp’s full-time staff numbers will increase to 70.