Jay-Z confirmed he sold majority stake in TIDAL to Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey.
Jay-Z has made another boss move as majority ownership of Tidal has been sold to Jack Dorsey’s Square. The announcement came on Thursday that the music streaming service will now be taken over by Square, which is a point-of-sale services company co-founded by Dorsey and is set to be the next generation of services offered in a widely evolving digital business era.
The sale price for the streaming service is $297 million, and the deal will also see Jay-Z remaining in the operations of the business as a board member for the company. Jay-Z co-owns Tidal. The company, in a statement about the sale, said, “Square and TIDAL will continue to empower artists and create a more sustainable, collaborative, and beneficial music industry.”
Jay-Z also spoke about the deal, which comes on the heel of another recent move-his move to sell a part of his wine company Armand de Brignac to the global luxury brand LVMH which will open significant opportunities for global distribution and increased sales.
He tweeted that the deal was a “game-changer for many,” and asserted that the friendship with Jack Dorsey is one where he recognizes that “Jack is one of the greatest minds of our times, and our many discussions about TIDAL’s endless possibilities have made me even more inspired about its future.” He added, “this shared vision makes me even more excited to join the Square Board.”
Jack is one of the greatest minds of our times, and our many discussions about TIDAL’s endless possibilities have made me even more inspired about its future. This shared vision makes me even more excited to join the Square board.
— Mr. Carter (@sc) March 4, 2021
This partnership will be a game-changer for many. I look forward to all this new chapter has to offer!
— Mr. Carter (@sc) March 4, 2021
Jack Dorsey, on the other hand, has said that the deal began with “a simple idea which was that Tidal needed to find new ways for artists to support their work.”
He used Square as the blueprint as to what Tidal can be like- “given what Square has been able to do for sellers of all sizes and individuals through Cash App, we believe we can now work for artists to see the same success for them, and us.”
Another tweet from Dorsey says, “we’re going to start small and focus on the most crucial needs of artists and growing their fanbases.”
More from us soon. In the meantime, here’s a playlist from Jay/@sc celebrating artists and the entrepreneurial spirit: https://t.co/qg9av9Bmzt
— jack (@jack) March 4, 2021
Tidal, prior to being sold, was experiencing a plateau in spite of other streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify doing extremely well.
Jay-Z bought the business in 2015, which he marketed as for artists by artists. Rumor of the sale began in the summer of 2020 after Jay-Z and Dorsey, known widely for his success with transforming Twitter, were spotted out on a boat trip with Beyonce and others.
