Reliance JioMusic Acquires Saavn, Creates $1-Billion Music Entity
Reliance Industries (RIL) has also mentioned that RIL would be acquiring a 75-80 percent stake in the merged entity.
Mumbai, March 24: The country's top two telecom operators namely Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are set to face each other in the music app market as well after Reliance Industries (RIL) on Friday announced that JioMusic would be merging with streaming music app Saaavn. Reliance Industries (RIL) has also mentioned that RIL would be acquiring a 75-80 percent stake in the merged entity. The company claims that the merger would result into the entity achieving a $1 billion valuation. The merged entity of JioMusic and Saavn would directly compete with Bharti Airtel's Wynk and Times Internet Gaana, the other two big players in the music app segment.
“The integrated business will be developed into a media platform of the future with global reach, cross-border original content, an independent artist marketplace, consolidated data and one of the largest mobile advertising mediums,” RIL stated. Akash Ambani, director of Reliance Jio, said in a statement that “We are delighted to announce this partnership with Saavn, and believe that their highly experienced management team will be instrumental in expanding Jio-Saavn to an extensive user base, thereby strengthening our leadership position in the Indian streaming market.”
Going by the statement of RIL, the deal is an attempt to merge the vast reach and connectivity of Jio and the streaming strength of Saavn music app to create a global and formidable online music entity. Reliance Jio will further strengthen its music content and repository with the Saavn deal and will be investing $100 milion in the new entity. Only last month, RIL had acquired a 5 percent stake in media and movies entertainment firm Eros International. Akash Ambani, Director of Reliance Jio, has said that the investment and combination of the music assets indicates RIL's commitment to boost digital world and provide unlimited entertainment to the digital consumers over a strong network.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 24, 2018 11:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).