Aspiro

Aspiro
Limited liability company
Industry Music
Founded 1998 (1998)
Founders Jörgen Adolfsson
Christer Månsson
Klas Hallqvist
Headquarters Oslo, Norway
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Andy Chen (CEO)
Chris Hart (CFO)
Number of employees
 120
Parent Project Panther Bidco Ltd. (Jay-Z)
Subsidiaries Tidal
WiMP
Website aspiro.com

Aspiro AB is a Norwegian technology company founded in 1998. The company mainly provides subscription-based lossless music streaming services under two brands, Tidal and WiMP. The company is headquartered in Norway, with additional offices in Poland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany.

As of the end of December 2014, Aspiro's music streaming services had 500,000 paying customers.[1]

History

The company was founded in 1998 by Jörgen Adolfsson, Christer Månsson and Klas Hallqvist. The founders knew each other from working together at Europolitan, one of Sweden's three largest mobile phone operators at the time, which was partly owned by Vodafone. It was not until Adolfsson and Månsson moved to Oslo, where they worked for Telenor Mobil's division for Value-Creating Services, they realized the changes that Wireless Application Protocol would mean for mobile communications, immediately they contacted Hallqvist, who remained in Sweden as head of quality at Europolitan, and founded Aspiro.[2]

In May 2000, Aspiro was listed on Stockholm Stock Exchange's New Market and later, in June 2001, began trading on the main list. Between 2000 and 2008, Aspiro acquired at least 13 companies: Midab Data, InfoCreator, Mgage Systems, Picofun, Melody Interactive Solutions, Emode, Cellus, Inpoc, Boomi, Mobile Avenue, Rubberduck, Voolife and Mobile Entry. However, it wasn't until 2009 they developed their first music streaming service, which is the core business today.[3]

On January 30, 2015, it was announced that Aspiro had received a $56 million takeover bid from Project Panther Bidco Ltd., which is indirectly owned and controlled by rapper and businessman Jay-Z[4].[5] Although some minority shareholders opposed the takeover and argued that Project Panther undervalued the growth potential in their bid, the acquisition was announced finalized on March 13 after being accepted by over 90 percent of the shareholders.[6][7][8]

Subsidiaries

References

  1. ↑ "Aspiro reports user numbers for January". Cision. 2015-02-09. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
  2. ↑ Jan-Eric Öhman (2000-02-22). "Born Mobile" (PDF). Enablers. Retrieved 2015-03-14.
  3. ↑ "Schibsted's Offer to the Shareholders in Aspiro AB" (PDF). Schibsted. 2012-01-17. Retrieved 2015-03-14.
  4. ↑ Sisario, Ben (2015-03-13). "Jay Z Buys the Music Streaming Firm, Aspiro". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
  5. ↑ Bloomberg: "That’s Business, Man: Why Jay Z’s Tidal Is a Complete Disaster. He set out to save the music industry from the economics of streaming, and make himself a fortune in the process. So far, Jay Z is doing neither" by Devin Leonard May 28, 2015
  6. ↑ "Schibsted ASA (SCH) – Schibsted accepts an offer from Project Panther Bidco to acquire Aspiro". Schibsted. 2014-01-30. Retrieved 2015-03-14.
  7. ↑ "Jay Z's $56 Million Bid for Aspiro Undervalues Company, Say Shareholders". Billboard. 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2015-03-14.
  8. ↑ "Jay Z Buys the Music Streaming Firm, Aspiro". NY Times. 2013-03-13. Retrieved 2015-03-14.
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