Paris, December 17, 2015
Vivendi acquires a majority stake in Radionomy Group,
a major global player in digital radio
Vivendi announced today that it acquired 64.4% of the share capital of Radionomy Group, a major global player in the digital radio industry. The Vivendi Group has become Radionomy’s majority shareholder alongside its founder Alexandre Saboundjian, its employees and Union Square Ventures.
Radionomy is best known as an Internet platform that allows digital radios to broadcast and monetize their programs on a global scale. The platform also offers FM radio stations unique tools to develop and monetize their digital presence. Today, over 57,000 radio stations are using these tools.
Radionomy Group owns the streaming technology SHOUTcast as well as the iconic Winamp audio player. It also controls TargetSpot, the first digital audio advertising network in the United States and in France.
Vivendi’s capital investment in Radionomy Group will provide an impetus for its commercial development, supported by the promising outlooks for the advertising and digital audio markets all over the world. Radionomy is also very well positioned to capitalize on the expected evolution of the digital audio market towards targeted advertising, thanks to its technical tools and its partnerships.
With this investment in digital radio, Vivendi expands its presence in the value chain that flows from talent discovery to content production and distribution. Collaboration between the digital audio platform and the Vivendi businesses will be established and a number of innovative offers will be developed. Radionomy also complements the talent support program which contributes to the Vivendi Group’s sustainable development.
About Vivendi
Vivendi is an integrated media and content group. The company operates businesses throughout the media value chain, from talent discovery to the creation, production and distribution of content. The main subsidiaries of Vivendi comprise Canal+ Group and Universal Music Group. Canal+ is the leading pay-TV operator in France, and also serves markets in Africa, Poland and Vietnam. Canal+ operations include Studiocanal, a leading European player in production, sales and distribution of film and TV series. Universal Music Group is the world leader in recorded music, music publishing and merchandising, with more than 50 labels covering all genres. A separate division, Vivendi Village, brings together Vivendi Ticketing (ticketing in the UK, the U.S and France), MyBestPro (experts counseling), Watchever (subscription video-on-demand) and the Paris-based concert venue L’Olympia. With
3.5 billion videos viewed each month, Dailymotion is one of the biggest aggregation and distribution platforms in the world. www.vivendi.com, www.cultureswithvivendi.com