DVD distributor Allegro buys military wholesaler Softland

By Danny King -- Video Business, 5/13/2008

MAY 13 | Like many Americans, Allegro Media Group may be rooting for a swift end to the war in Iraq.

The Portland, Ore.-based media producer and distributor acquired DVD and CD wholesaler Softland, which supplies rental stores on Marine and Naval bases in the U.S. and Japan. The acquisition will boost Allegro’s annual revenue to about $100 million from $60 million, according to Joseph Micallef, Allegro’s CEO.

Allegro will sell to stores on Marine Corps bases such as California’s Camp Pendleton and Okinawa, which house as many as 200,000 military personnel and family members. The bases’ population usually grows as fighting overseas ceases.

The acquisition “diversifies our customer base,” said Micallef, whose company distributes to retailers such as Nordstrom and Dollar Tree. Military bases “are virtually small cities in their own right.”

Micallef, whose family founded Allegro Media in 1981, declined to say how much the company paid for Softland, which is based in Owings Mills, Md.