PCMag owner J2 Global buys sixth VPN provider

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Publishing and SaaS behemoth J2 Global has quietly acquired certain assets owned by ibVPN, a VPN provider based in Romania.

We reviewed ibVPN a while back and found it offered an interesting array of privacy and VPN features. “It's not always easy to use and we found speeds could be below average on a few locations, but it's worth taking the 24-hour trial for a spin, to see how the service works for you,” wrote our reviewer.

J2 Global, owner of IGN and PC Mag, also confirmed it has snapped up software firms Kickbox and SpatialBuzz and divested VoIP businesses Fonebox and Zintel Communications.

VPN deal

The acquisitions are expected, according to a statement, to “grow the company’s global customer base, provide access to new markets and expand the J2 Global’s product lineup”. The terms of the individual acquisitions were not disclosed.

The company went on a shopping spree in 2019, adding VPN features to its popular testing service Speedtest and acquiring SaferVPN, Encrypt.me, IPVanish, StrongVPN and Buffered VPN. It has also started to bundle VPN services with Sugarsync, its cloud storage offering.

It went on to acquire RetailMeNot.com and SRFax, one of the few remaining online fax services, in September 2020.

Earlier this month, the firm announced the pricing of a $750m offering of senior notes to pay back an existing $650 million loan that was due to mature in 2025.

Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.