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Jay Z Expanding His Empire, Taking On Aspiro

By JenniferP
Published on: 02:45 PST, Jan 30, 2015

Earlier this month, Jay Z made news by acquiring boxer Andre Ward for his sports agency, Roc Nation Sports. Now, Jay Z is looking to add just one more thing to his ever expanding empire — a music streaming service comparable to the highly popular Spotify.

According to the New York Times, Jay Z, through his company, Project Panther, made a very high offer to buy the streaming service, Aspiro. How high of an offer? Jay is willing to spend a cool $56 million to add Aspiro to his empire, which is “representing a 59 percent premium over the stock’s closing price on Thursday.”

The deal for Jay to buy the Swedish Aspiro actually began in December, although it was just made public early Friday.

Business Wire received an official statement from Aspiro, which stated, “With reference to Project Panther Bidco Ltd’s public takeover offer for all the shares in Aspiro… the Independent Bid Committee within Aspiro’s board of directors has decided…to unanimously recommend all shareholders of Aspiro to accept the offer.”

What would owning this music streaming service mean to Jay Z?

It would give Jay “a foothold in the expanding world of streaming music” and would also “offer an expanded profile for his entertainment and sports company, Roc Nation.”

With competitors like Spotify and even YouTube, the music streaming business has been booming recently. While many offer a free option, users also have the ability to buy a subscription to stream whatever music they want whenever and wherever they are. It’s not hard to see why this industry is doing so well.

So how does Jay plan to compete against already well-established Spotify and even Beats, the company sold by Dr. Dre?

Jay could be planning to follow suit of other services like WiMP, available only in a handful of European companies, by offering “so-called lossless audio formats that are much higher in quality than what is offered by Spotify and most other similar outlets.”

Another reason Jay might want Aspiro is because this move could “further expand the media portfolio of Roc Nation.” Jay and Roc Nation already have their hands in various areas of the music industry, including music publishing, artist management, and its newest venture, sports management.

It looks like Jay Z has made an offer that Aspiro and their shareholders just can’t refuse.

[Photo Courtesy of The Daily Nod]

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