The tech giant Apple made a long-rumored acquisition finally official when it announced that it bought audio identifying app Shazam.
Apple bought the company for $400 million after it was initially reported last week by TechCrunch. Recode was able to confirm the number of $400 million. The number is a far cry from the $1 billion dollar valuation it got during its last round of funding but after issues arose about its business model, the drop makes sense.
“We are excited to announce that Shazam has entered into an agreement to become part of Apple,” Shazam said in a statement to The Verge. “Shazam is one of the highest rated apps in the world and loved by hundreds of millions of users and we can’t imagine a better home for Shazam to enable us to continue innovating and delivering magic for our users.”
More importantly for those that use different streaming apps for songs, the future of the app could give a big indication of how Apple will proceed. If they want to solely integrate it into Apple Music, it would cut into Spotify and other streaming giants referrals.
Getting it off of the market is valuable to Apple. They can use the technology for TV shows and movies as well, allowing the tech giant to continue to corner different types of content.
About Sam Blazer
Sam is a self proclaimed chess prodigy. He once placed seventh in the state of Ohio in Chess when he was in kindergarten. He will rarely if ever mention though that only eight people were entered in this tournament. Contact him at sblaze17@gmail.com