International Data Group (IDG), the owner of PCWorld magazine and market research firm IDC, announced on Thursday that it is in the process of being acquired by China Oceanwide Holdings Group and IDG Capital, the investment management firm run by IDG China executive Hugo Shong.
The acquisition is the latest technology and media asset purchased by Chinese investors, following a series of deals for U.S. companies last year including the TV producer Dick Clark Productions and customer satisfaction firm J.D. Power and Associates.
IDG had earlier disclosed to Reuters that it had been in talks to sell itself to a Chinese buyout group and was seeking between $500 million and $1 billion.
Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed to the press.
The Beijing-based conglomerate Oceanwide, founded by billionaire Lu Zhiqiang, pledged $3.8 billion to acquire a controlling stake in U.S. insurance provider Genworth Financial last year.
The company also has a large stake in Hong Kong-based hardware giant Lenovo Group and has invested aggressively in U.S. commercial real estate.
IDG will join other media holdings in China such as the business newspaper Economic Observer and a performance theatre in Xi'an, although its headquarters will remain in Boston, Oceanwide director Brett Liu told Reuters.
Both Oceanwide and IDG Capital had initially made separate bids for the company last April before IDG's banker Goldman Sachs suggested they team up, IDG Chairman Walter Boyd said.
Oceanwide will not become the controlling shareholder in IDG's operations with Shong's IDG Capital taking a minority stake. In turn, IDG Capital will take the majority stake in IDG's venture businesses.
IDG's venture arm has investments in some of China's biggest tech companies including Baidu, Tencent, and Ctrip International.
Shong, a close associate of late IDG founder Pat McGovern, founded one of China's first venture capital firms in 1993, initially with IDG's backing.
Both IDG Capital and Oceanwide said the deal has been cleared by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment and will close in the first quarter.
The deal was approved just as President-elect Donald Trump's harsh remarks on China has plunged the future of the country's investment in the United States into uncertainty.
Sources told Reuters that regulators may dissect IDC, the market research arm of the company that consults many U.S. technology companies on IT spending and strategy.
IDC president Kirk Campbell said that his division does not expect to lose any clients. IDG declined to comment on the regulatory review.
Proceeds from the transaction will go to a foundation honouring the late IDG founder.