Norwegian and Strawberry have finalised an agreement to create a joint platform for their loyalty programmes, Norwegian Reward and Strawberry, which together boast 10 million members. Following an initial announcement in June last year, the arrangement has now been fully formalised, and the jointly owned company is operational.
The value proposition for both members and partners has been enhanced compared to the original plan. The joint venture's structure has been modified to ensure that a majority of the loyalty programme's value remains within Norwegian and Strawberry, respectively. Consequently, Norwegian will not recognise the initial accounting gain previously announced. In the new arrangement, Norwegian and Strawberry will each hold 50% ownership of the joint company from the outset. The final closing of the transaction occurred on May 14, with a market launch aimed for the second half of 2024. Following this revised transaction structure, the agreement with financial service partner Avida will be adjusted to support the joint venture's structure.
“I am very pleased that we have reached this agreement with Strawberry, to the benefit of our more than ten million Norwegian Reward and Strawberry members. Our partnership will be a loyalty game changer, with the world's first multi-partner rewards points ecosystem with a single loyalty currency. This will give members the opportunity to earn and use a shared loyalty currency across participating programmes and their partners. I am truly excited to share this exciting news with our members, and not least to welcome new partner companies in the time to come,” said Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian.
