Glu Mobile picks up $7.5 million from Time Warner

Earlier today, San Mateo-based mobile games publisher Glu Mobile announced that it had secured a $7.5 million strategic investment from media giant Time Warner. The investment is part of Glu's larger, series D, round of financing.

The deal was sweetened by the addition to Glu's board of Andy Heller, Turner Broadcasting's president of domestic distribution. Heller, a veteran of the multimedia industry, also heads up Turner's new GameTap subscription service.

In an interview with GameSpot, Glu Mobile CEO Greg Ballard stressed that the significance of the investment goes far beyond the cash, because it indicates that the mobile games business is moving beyond the speculative phase.

"This is a huge endorsement of our company and of the industry at large," said Ballard. "Time Warner primarily wanted a seat at the table, and Andy has a lot of valuable connections and experience." Ballard added that the $7.5 million outlay, while substantial, amounted to a little more than 10 percent of Glu's present institutional investments--a "sizable, but not dominant" number.

According to Ballard, Glu's new relationship with Time Warner doesn't necessarily mean that it will gain access to all the conglomerate's choice brands. Time Warner has already made a substantial in-house commitment to mobile games through Warner Bros. Mobile. That internal studio has most recently produced games based on Batman Begins, Looney Tunes, and Constantine.

On the other hand, Ballard indicated that Glu will likely end up working on some future branded games that Warner Bros. won't be able to take on. Apparently, Glu is in the process of combing through more than 20 new Warner Bros. games to see which may be appropriate for the company.

When asked whether the Time Warner announcement might constitute another step toward a long-rumored Glu IPO, Ballard was coy. "Our judgment on going public will be based on many factors...our theory has always been that you can set your timing however you like if you build a good company first."