Apple is set to receive the European Union’s unconditional approval of its acquisition of the song-identifier service, Shazam, according to CNBC. Apple agreed to purchase Shazam for around $400 million last December, even though the firm’s last private valuation said the firm was worth around $1 billion. In February, it was then reported that Apple’s acquisition would come under scrutiny from the EU.
While it is now believed that the EU will give the go ahead for the acquisition, we won’t officially know until September 18 when the EU makes an official announcement. As was to be expected, Apple also didn’t give any comments about the process.
One of the main reasons for the purchase was that it would improve Apple’s streaming service and make it more competitive against the likes of Spotify, the industry leader in the music streaming sector.
The EU antitrust body launched its investigation based on concerns its had that Shazam might give Apple an unfair advantage. It suggested that Apple could change the service to stop giving referrals to rivals of Apple Music, which could damage their businesses. If the EU does give Apple unconditional approval, the latter could probably get away with stopping referrals to rival services.
Source: CNBC