Square, the financial services platform led by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, announced Thursday that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in TIDAL. The streaming music platform, owned by Jay-Z, will come under the company’s control although it will “operate independently”.
Square will pay $297 million for a majority stake in TIDAL
The company will pay $297 million in cash and stock to acquire the stake. The deal will include, if the deal closes, rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z joining Square’s board of directors.
It should be recalled that the American artist, along with other singers, acquired Tidal for $56 million in 2015.
The deal seeks to extend new ways for artists to support their work. The idea, they claim, is to make it easier for artists to access systems, tools, and financial freedom.
“Square sees an opportunity to leverage those learnings to help musicians find new ways to support their work and make better decisions through TIDAL,” they note.
For Jack Dorsey, “it comes down to a simple idea: finding new ways for artists to support their work.” Jay-Z, for his part, defends that from the beginning he said TIDAL was more than a streaming platform, “six years later, it has remained a platform that supports artists at every point in their careers,” he said.
