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Friday 23 March 2018

JioMusic, Saavn to merge in a deal valued at over US$ 1 billion

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) today announced that it has signed an agreement to for combination of Saavn with JioMusic. The combined entity is valued at over US$1 billion, with JioMusic’s implied valuation at US$ 670 million. "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," said RIL. Reliance will also invest up to US$100 million (Rupee equivalent), out of which US$20 million (Rupee equivalent) will be invested upfront, for growth and expansion of the platform into one of the largest streaming services in the world. The company will continue to operate the over-the-top media platform available on all app stores. The three co-founders of Saavn, Rishi Malhotra, Paramdeep Singh and Vinodh Bhat, will continue in their leadership roles and will drive growth of the combined entity. In addition, Reliance is acquiring partial stake from the existing shareholders of Saavn for US$104 million, while these shareholders retain their balance stake. The shareholder base of Saavn includes Tiger Global Management, Liberty Media and Bertelsmann among others. The combined entity plans to invest aggressively to accelerate growth that would benefit all aspects ...