European-based streaming music player Spotify Tuesday denied reports of acquisition talks with Apple. A blog had reported Spotify and Apple were involved in buy-out discussions.
Although the company normally wouldn’t comment on speculation, “we wanted to make it clear that we have absolutely no intention of selling Spotify,” a spokesman told a reporter. An earlier report suggested the two companies were in talks about the Cupertino, Calif. firm acquiring Spotify, which is attempting to enter the U.S. digital music market.
Apple has used Spotify as leverage in talks with music labels, arguing the free streaming service could further erode digital music sales and why a subscription-based iTunes made sense.
The Spotify acquisition rumor is just the latest to appear. Previously, some observers have suggested Apple might acquire Sony, Adobe or even Disney, although such chatter goes no further than speculation. At its recent quarterly report, Apple execs intimated the Cupertino, Calif. may look at several strategic investments. Apple has acquired several smaller companies, such as streaming media firm Lala, chipmaker Intrinsity, and mobile media firm Quattro Wireless. The iPhone maker has an estimated $51 billion in cash it could use to buy companies.
[BusinessInsider, CNET, TechCrunch]
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
