Jay Z was reportedly successful in his $56.2 million takeover bid for Swedish streaming company Aspiro after all.
The rapper's bid has been accepted according to E24, via Billboard. This comes on the heels of the recent news that a minority group of shareholders moved to block Jay's $56 million takeover bid of Aspiro, the Swedish IT company — parent company for TIDAL and WiMP.
According to Billboard, the bid was strongly supported by Schibsted ASA, the first majority shareholder. In an email to E24, Fredik Bjorland, head of the independent bid committee (in charge of reviewing the offer) relayed, "We as a board tried to be as transparent as possible towards minority shareholders so that they could make the best possible assessment of the bid," Billboard reports.
Aspiro's streaming services WiMP and TIDAL delivers subscription-based streaming service and operates a video content syndication platform. The company promises, "a complete music experience with HiFi quality audio and integrated editorial, magazine and video."
Wired reported that WiMP has roughly 512,000 paid users compared to Spotify's 15 million. In the effort to combat competition, Aspiro boasts its "lossless compression" that gives the user a "higher quality listening experience" to remain competitive.
The hip-hop mogul's Project Panther Bidco, a subsidiary of his S. Carter Enterprises released the following statement in regards to the acquisition of Aspiro via NPR:
"Panther believes that the recent developments in the entertainment industry, with the migration to media streaming, offers great potential for increased entertainment consumption and an opportunity for artists to further promote their music. Panther's strategic ambition revolves around global expansion and up-scaling of Aspiro's platform, technology and services."
Aspiro is in the ring with other streaming companies that include, the streaming service by Beats By Dre, Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, Playstation Music and more.
