France-based streaming service Deezer, which has a relatively low profile in the US but is one of the world’s largest streaming companies, is merging with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) with a view to going public at a valuation of $1.13 billion. , said the companies The Wall Street Journal.
Deezer, launched in 2007, is merged with Paris-listed I2PO SA. According to the WSJ, it is the so-called blank check company backed by the French Pinault family, controlling shareholder of owner Gucci Kering, as well as banker Matthieu Pigasse at Centerview Partners. The car is headed by former WarnerMedia CEO, Iris Knobloch.
Rep. rejected for Deezer diverseRequests for more comments.
The Paris-based company said Deezer has 9.6 million subscribers and generated €400 million in revenue in 2021. In addition to a music catalog of more than 90 million songs, it also offers podcasts, audiobooks and radio channels.
Deezer tried to go public in 2015 but backed out after a sharp drop in listenership at Pandora Radio cooled the market for streaming services. Sirius XM Holdings Inc. on Pandora in 2018 for $3 billion.
While Deezer has a market share of 29% in France and 17% in Brazil, its global reach is just 2%, compared to 31% for global leader Spotify, 15% for Apple Music and 13% for Amazon Music, the three largest providers .
“What we’re trying to do with our partners is replicate the strategy of Apple and Amazon, but we’re bringing in the music producer and they’re bringing the user base together, so together we can replicate that model,” Jeronimo Fulgiera, CEO of Deezer (pictured above), told The Wall Street Journal. . “We need to compete against them and our partners need to compete against them, and together we can compete better.”
Deezer said, in a statement, that most of its current shareholders will remain investors in the company, including the Kingdom Holding Company controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, and Access Industries, the industrial conglomerate founded by billionaire Lin. Blavatnik, which controls Warner Music Group Corp. Other investors in Deezer include Universal Music Group, Sony Group Corp and French telecom operator Orange SA.
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