Square, the payments-processing company led by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, announced plans to buy a “significant” majority stake in Tidal, the music and entertainment streaming platform run by Jay-Z.
Square said it expects to pay $297 million, in a combination of cash and stock, for the Tidal stake; with existing artist shareholders remaining stakeholders. Tidal will operate independently within Square.
Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, who has been friendly with Dorsey for a while; is expected to join Square’s board upon closing the deal. Last month the two formed a Bitcoin fund focused on developing the cryptocurrency’s adoption, initially in Africa and India.
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According to Square, the deal will extend its “purpose of economic empowerment” to musicians; a new category for the payments company. Square plans to bring new systems and tools to help artistes find new ways to support their work and find “financial freedom.”
In 2015, Jay-Z led many artistes in a $56 million deal to acquire Norwegian streaming company Aspiro. Other Tidal artist-owners include Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Kanye West, Madonna, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. Tidal has managed to hang on in the streaming game amid competition from huge rivals like Apple Music and Spotify. The streaming service has no revealed its subscriber count.
