Yahoo to acquire Musicmatch for $160 million
The digital music market took another twist today with Yahoo Inc.’s announcement that it plans to acquire Musicmatch Inc., a provider of digital music software and services, for about $160 million in cash. Musicmatch will nearly double Yahoo’s digital music audience to 23 million from 12.9 million, Yahoo says.
"Yahoo is committed to being a major player in digital music," says Terry Semel, chairman and CEO of Yahoo. "This combination bolsters our strategy to capture the largest audience of consumers as they make the shift to digital music and supports Yahoo`s goal to give consumers the greatest choice, control and flexibility in how they interact with their music. This acquisition is one of several product innovations and new initiatives in which Yahoo will invest to build our music portfolio this year and in the future."
Musicmatch, an early provider of digital music management technology founded in 1997, offers a range of digital music products and services. Its Musicmatch Music Store offers a la carte access to more than 700,000 song tracks; its Musicmatch on Demand streaming music subscription service provides unlimited access to the 700,000 songs as well as a music-sharing service; its Musicmatch Jukebox software lets consumers discover, download, burn, organize and play digital songs; and its Musicmatch Radio network provides streaming access to more than 900,000 songs and more than 200 pre-programmed stations.
David Goldberg, Yahoo’s vice president and general manager of music, says the Musicmatch acquisition also gives Yahoo a strong digital music market position in both ad-supported media, such as radio and music videos, and on-demand distribution, with subscriptions and downloads.
Under terms of the acquisition agreement, Musicmatch will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Yahoo.
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