News Publisher Schibsted Set To Buy Aspiro

The Scandinavian news publisher Schibsted is set to buy a Norwegian company, Aspiro, for 340 million Swedish krona (€38m). Aspiro provides whitelabel TV and music streaming services, and also provides the music streaming service WiMP, which competes with Spotify. Aspiro is traded on the Nasdaq OMX Nordic Exchange in Stockholm, and Schibsted Media Group offers to the shareholders in Aspiro AB to acquire all the shares in Aspiro for SEK 1.65 in cash per share.

Explaining the reasoning behind the offer, CFO Trond Berger in Schibsted Media Group says, “Aspiro represents an exciting addition to Schibsted’s online offering and has succeeded in getting users to pay for digital content, which fits well into Schibsted’s current work on how to monetize its digital media content.”

On the offer, Aspiro commented, “Although Schibsted’s core areas are online newspapers and classifieds, it has developed a number of other successful internet companies within a range of different areas. Schibsted strongly believes that it boasts a unique internet competence and that this can be of great benefit for the future development of Aspiro.

Further, Schibsted’s dominant position on the internet in Norway and Sweden and strong internet presence in many other European markets, can be of great value for Aspiro in future expansion of its music streaming business. To further enhance the value of Aspiro, Schibsted may also seek strategic partners in the future in order to further develop the potential in WiMP’s music streaming services.”