Dagens Næringsliv wrote Thursday that Jay Z thinks he overpaid for the music streaming service Tidal, and is now preparing a large compensation claim against its former owners in Norway and Sweden.
A number of Norwegian and Swedish companies received a letter from Tidal’s American holding company, Project Panther Bidco, during the Easter week.
Dagens Næringsliv have been given access to the letter.
READ THE LETTER HERE:
«It recently has come to Panther's attention that certain information was either omitted or misrepresented during the due diligence process», MAQS writes in the letter.
Due diligence
The Norwegian media company Schibsted was with an indirect stake of 57 percent the largest shareholder in Aspiro.
In the letter MAGQS’ lawyers writes that from late 2014 and in the early of 2015 when Jay Zs company did undergo business information about Aspiro and the number of subscribers in a due diligence process:
«Panther has learned that the actual number of subscribers at that point in time was significantly lower and that the amount represented in the due diligence documents were greatly overstated», the letter says.
Project Panther Bidco further claims to have revealed a systematic flaw in the way Aspiro has calculated subscriber number - and that this error had existed for four years before Panther bid for the company.
In the letter the lawyers underlines the importance of the number of subscribers was the valuation of Aspiro and the size of the bid.
No comment
Panther is according to the letter inflicted «significant damage» and therefore reserves the right to claim compensation.
Anders Rikter, director of communications in Schibsted Media Group, confirms that the company has received the letter.
– We believe that Panther comes with baseless allegations in this letter. We are of the opinion that Aspiro communicated very detailed user numbers and that the independent committee gave a very sober and correct representation of the strategic and financial situation of the company. We therefore believe that relevant information on key issues was available to the buyer and this is presented in a very clear way, writes Rikter in an email.
MAQS does not have any comment to this story.
In a press release Thursday, Tidal confirms the legal action.
«We are excited that one year after TIDAL launched, we have surpassed 3 million subscribers globally. The growth in our subscriber numbers has been even more phenomenal than we’ve previously shared. It became clear after taking control of TIDAL and conducting our own audit that the total number of subscribers was actually well below the 540,000 reported to us by the prior owners. As a result, we have now served legal notice to parties involved in the sale. While we cannot share further comment during active legal proceedings, we’re proud of our success and remain focused on delivering the best experience for artists and fans», Tidal writes in the statement.
BAKGRUNN: Dette er striden om Tidal (Vilkår)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS og/eller våre leverandører. Vi vil gjerne at du deler våre saker ved bruk av lenke, som leder direkte til våre sider. Kopiering eller annen form for bruk av hele eller deler av innholdet, kan kun skje etter skriftlig tillatelse eller som tillatt ved lov. For ytterligere vilkår se her.