$1B Deal Combines Music Streamers Saavn, Jio Music

Indian conglomerate and telecom giant Reliance is merging its digital music service JioMusic with rival Saavn music, which it is acquiring for $104 million in cash and stock.The combined companies will be worth an estimated $1 billion.When Saavn is combined with Jiomusic, which has about 16 million songs under license from both domestic and international labels, the new company will be a major player in the country’s streaming music market.Saavn’s three co-founders Rishi Malhotra, Paramdeep Singh and Vinodh Bhat, will continue in their leadership roles at the streaming music service, Reliance Industries said. As a part of the deal, Reliance has also announced plans to invest $100 million into the platform to foster its growth and expansion.“The investment and combination of our music assets with Saavn underlines our commitment to further boost the digital ecosystem and provide unlimited digital entertainment services to consumers over a strong uninterrupted network,” said Akash Ambani, Director, Reliance Jio, who is said to have driven the deal.“We are delighted to announce this partnership with Saavn, and believe that their highly experienced management team will be instrumental in expanding Jio-Saavn to an extensive user base, thereby strengthening our leadership position in the Indian streaming market,” he added.Reliance’s move comes just a month after Chinese tech giant Tencent made a $115 million investment into Gaana, another Indian streaming service. Gaana, which boasts around 60 million users, is one of the leading competitors for Saavn.The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.– via CelebrityAccess