Opera Plans to Separate Its Consumer and TV Businesses

Opera, best known for its Web browser by the same name, plans to spin off its Consumer and TV businesses into separate entities. The Board of Directors at the company has proposed the demerger though it is currently awaiting approval. The proposed demerger, if approved, will be effective from March 15, 2016.

Gadgets 360 learned earlier that the Norwegian software company was planning to spin off the Browser division into a separate entity. In line with it, Opera told us on Tuesday that its board of directors have currently proposed a demerger of Opera Software ASA into Opera Software AS and Opera TV AS.

"The Board of Directors proposes that the business areas be organized in individual sub-groups as this will entail a more appropriate group structure with regard to management, operations and flexibility," the company told Gadgets 360 in an emailed statement.

The company currently deals with three separate businesses: Consumer, TV, and Mobile Advertising. The consumer part includes Opera's Browser business, the Privacy and Performance apps businesses, and Apps and Games business. Currently, the Web browser and TV are held in Opera Software ASA. The move comes as the company plans to bring more uniformity across all its divisions. Its other businesses, for instance, are held by different subsidiaries in the group.

It could also be seen as a move by the company to put a clearer distinction across the different operating divisions inside Opera, a company that is best known in the market as a Web browser maker. In September this year, the company announced that it was rebranding itself from Opera Software to Opera. The company at the time had noted that it sees itself as more than just a software company.

Looking into other areas inside Opera, the company's ad business Opera Mediaworks has a reach of more than one billion people per month, the company claimed earlier this year. Last year, the company acquired AdColony to strengthen its mobile video ad capabilities.