UPDATE: Apple Confirms Shazam Acquisition for $400 Million USD
What comes next?
UPDATE: Apple has confirmed its acquisition of music identification app Shazam today. An Apple spokesperson told The Verge that “We are thrilled that Shazam and its talented team will be joining Apple,” while Shazam said, “We are excited to announce that Shazam has entered into an agreement to become part of Apple.” Stay tuned in the following months for more details.
As one of the first apps to appear in Apple’s App Store, Shazam has been a staple on users’ phones across the world since, helping fans identify new songs they’d otherwise never know — or, to remember the names of ones they’ve forgotten.
Back in 2015 the company was valued at $1.2 billion USD, and has since maintained around 1 billion downloads per day across 190 countries. However, the supposed deal with Apple is rumoured to be for $401 million — significantly less than its worth a couple years ago. This comes as a surprise, but some are speculating it may have something to do with pre-existing agreements between the two companies, with eagle-eyed users noticing Shazam is already linked with Apple Music.
In other Apple Music-related news, it seems like YouTube may be about to launch its own challenger to the streaming throne.
