Why a Chinese chemicals maker paid $1bn for a cartoon cat

You wouldn't think a Chinese chemical maker and a talking tom cat would have much in common. And you'd be right.

In 2009, a year after Steve Jobs had opened Apple's App Store, Samo and Iza Login Slovenian high school sweethearts decided to get into the app business. They launched Outfit7 with $250,000 in savings. Their early efforts "bombed", says Adam Satariano in Bloomberg Businessweek.

But after six months they came up with Talking Tom Cat in which an animated cat repeats whatever is spoken into an iPhone's microphone. It was a hit. Titles in the franchise have hit first place in the App Store in more than 100 countries. Outfit7 now earns more than $100m a year via advertising and in-game purchases.

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Alice grew up in Stockholm and studied at the University of the Arts London, where she gained a first-class BA in Journalism. She has written for several publications in Stockholm and London, and joined MoneyWeek in 2017.