Digital services company 7digital has completed its planned acquisition of top competitor 24-7 from MediaMarktSaturn (MMS), Europe's biggest electronics and entertainment retailer. In turn, 7digital will take over the day-to-day operations of MMS' digital music service Juke, which has been run by 24-7, plus MMS now becomes 7digital's biggest individual shareholder.
London-based 7digital agreed to pay £2.2 million ($2.45 million) in stock and cash, with an initial cash payment of £0.9 ($1 million) in respect to the funds held on 24-7's balance sheet. The transaction is expected to add approximately £5 million ($5.57 million) to 7digital's revenues in 2017 and more than £8 million ($8.9 million) in 2018. 7digital expects to double its licensing revenues with the new business it will be doing with its 24-7 contracts, including Danish telco TDC and Juke, based in Germany.
"We set out three years ago to create a profitable, globally dominant player in what we believed would be a rapidly expanding market for the technology and content needed to build streaming music services," said Simon Cole, chief executive of 7digital. "This transaction represents the culmination of that strategy, completing our consolidation of European competitors... and transforming 7digital in terms of size, scale and profitability."