Verizon Confirms EdgeCast Acquisition, Adding Over 6K Customers To Its Content Delivery Business

Verizon is indeed going to acquire EdgeCast Networks, a content delivery network founded in 2008 that has grown to be one of the fastest-growing Internet companies in the world. TechCrunch’s Ryan Lawler reported the deal was in the works on Sunday, and a new press release from Verizon confirms it, with a projected finalization date sometime in early 2014.

In its official release, Verizon makes no mention of the price attached to the deal, but TechCrunch has heard from a source with knowledge of the deal that it will be worth in excess of $350 million — a good return for EdgeCast investors, which has around $74 million raised in funding.

EdgeCast brings with it a profitable business and a client base of over 6,000 customers, including Twitter, Pinterest and Hulu to name just a few. Bringing those partners into Verizon’s enterprise business has benefits both in terms of shoring up its bottom line on that front, and in terms of giving it access to a number of potential high-profile targets to help it upsell them on its other corporate services as well.

Verizon even alludes to the fact that it’s building an end-to-end Internet and digital media services play, and this marks the most significant and independent attempt it has made so far to become a provider of CDN tech on its own, rather than as a reseller for other corporate partners.