We reported last week that satellite-radio firm (and Pandora owner) SiriusXM was in talks to buy podcasts company Stitcher. Yesterday, the deal was confirmed.
SiriusXM is paying $265m in cash for the company, with up to $60m of additional payments if Stitcher meets certain financial targets in 2020 and 2021 – so potentially the deal could be worth $325m for Stitcher’s current owner, media group E.W. Scripps.
We won’t rehash our analysis from last week about how this deal shows SiriusXM’s determination not to lie down in the face of Spotify’s drive to usurp radio, but suffice to say Stitcher gives the former company a pipeline of (potentially exclusive) podcasts to go up against Spotify’s originals.
That said, the deal is also about tech. “Upon completion of the transaction, SiriusXM will be better positioned to advance the podcast ad market and help solve some of its critical challenges through precision targeting, ad efficiency, and improved measurement capabilities via a streamlined ad marketplace,” claimed SiriusXM.
That completion is expected to happen by the end of September, if regulators give the green light.
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