February 2, 2015

Jay Z is buying Spotify rival Tidal for $56 million

The Scandinavian press is buzzing right now with the news that Jay Z is buying the Norwegian company behind the high-quality music streaming service Tidal. The rapper and entrepreneur made a 464 million Krona (roughly $56 million) bid which the company's reviewing board has already reviewed. It's recommending all its shareholders accept the offer.
 "Project Panther," a company indirectly owned by Jay Z's S. Carter Enterprises, has made a bid for Aspiro, a company that runs Tidal, and also a similar service called WiMP. While neither are a household name in the states yet, its WiMP service had over half a million paying subscribers as of last September (before Tidal launched). So it's not quite competing with Spotify or Beats Music, but it's getting there, and you'd imagine, once the deal goes through, that Jay Z will start using his popularity to raise Tidal's profile.
With the deal, it's clear that Jay Z wants to get into the music streaming business.
 
Credit: engadget

No comments: