The word around town is that Tidal is in talks to be sold with new ownership. Tidal launched in 2014 and now operates in over 50 countries. Jay-Z first purchased the platform back in 2015 for $56 million from Swedish company Aspiro.Square, an American financial services company that operates Cash App, is reportedly interested in purchasing Tidal from Jay-Z. Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey is reportedly looking to diversify and has held talks about buying the streaming service. The news comes after Dorsey and Jay-Z were spotted hanging out together. Both Tidal and Square have not spoken on the reported deal as of now.
Tech billionaire Jack Dorsey has reportedly held talks with Jay-Z about his payments firm Square acquiring Tidal, the Brooklyn-born rapper’s music streaming service.
Dorsey — also the co-founder and CEO of Twitter — is interested in taking over Tidal in an effort to diversify Square’s business, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed source familiar with the situation.
Jay Z started shopping Tidal two years after he bought it for $56 million in 2015, thinking he could get $1 billion for it, the exec said. Instead of selling it outright, he got a partner in wireless carrier Sprint, bought a 33 percent stake at a $600 million valuation.
“Jay-Z has been trying to dump it [Tidal] for a long time,” the exec told The Post. “The question is, can they dump it?”
“Tidal isn’t worth anything without Jay-Z,” the source said. “If they did a deal, it would only be because of him and Tidal’s videos.”
Dragging Tidal down, according to the exec, are its sagging subscribers and lack of strong leadership thanks to four CEO departures in the last five years, including the recent exit of Richard Sanders, who joined from Kobalt Music Group.
The privately traded company doesn’t release its subscriber numbers, but reports put them between 1 million and 5 million, well below industry leader Spotify’s 286 million global subscriber base.
Tidal could nevertheless give Square an opportunity to both broaden its business model and capitalize on its loyal customer base, according to Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives.
“Square already had customer trust, and there’s a cross-sale opportunity when you look at streaming,” Ives told The Post. “The company has really become an e-finance gargantuan over the last few years. This is Dorsey just further expanding their mode, potentially into music streaming.”
SOURCE : NY POST
