Apple has confirmed it had reached an agreement to acquire music discovery service Shazam, the UK-based app that allows users to recognise songs just after hearing a few seconds of it, according to media reports.
While the firm did not reveal the acquisition value, media reports suggest it could be as much as $400 million. According to a Reuters report, this is much lesser than the most recent $1 billion valuation for privately held music-identification app firm.
According to a Bloomberg report, this would be one of Apple’s largest acquisitions ever, approaching the size of its 1996 purchase of Next Computer, which brought co-founder Steve Jobs back to the company. That transaction would be worth more than $600 million in today’s dollars, it said.
In its statement, Apple said the acquisition would be a “natural fit” with its Apple Music streaming service and it would help users discover new songs. Reuters reported that Apple Music has 27 million users and competes against Spotify, which has 60 million users. Apple said Shazam’s team would be joining the Cupertino company.
Speaking to media outlets, Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said Shazam “is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, across multiple platforms. We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today’s agreement.”
Apple did not elaborate on its plans, but the company will not be able to make any major changes to Shazam until it secures regulatory approval, said Reuters report.
While Shazam is also available on Android-based devices, the company did not say whether it would keep the Android version available.
