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Jack Dorsey’s Square In Talks To Buy Tidal From Jay-Z

By Michael Bamidele

24 December 2020   |   6:09 pm

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Digital payments company Square has held talks to acquire Jay-Z's Tidal music streaming service, Bloomberg News reported late Wednesday. Square chief executive Jack Dorsey, who also leads Twitter, aims to expand and diversify the company, according to the report, which was based on an unnamed source. Bloomberg said the talks may not result in a…

Square/Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey | Image: Getty Images

Digital payments company Square has held talks to acquire Jay-Z’s Tidal music streaming service, Bloomberg News reported late Wednesday.

Square chief executive Jack Dorsey, who also leads Twitter, aims to expand and diversify the company, according to the report, which was based on an unnamed source.

Bloomberg said the talks may not result in a transaction.

Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter | Image: REUTERS/Mike Segar

Jay-Z bought Tidal from Europe-based Aspiro in 2015 year in a deal valued at slightly more than $56 million.

Owners include several other high-profile artists, including Madonna, Rihanna and Jay-Z’s wife, Beyonce.

But Tidal has struggled to compete against much larger streaming services such as Spotify and Apple.

The company hasn’t put out subscriber figures since 2016, when it said it had 3 million paying users, according to Bloomberg. Spotify, by contrast, had 50 million paid subscribers by March 2017.

Jay-Z surprised fans in December 2019 by moving his music catalogue back to Spotify after a two-year hiatus.

Apple in 2016 also reportedly explored a purchase of Tidal to bolster its music streaming offerings.