Europe
: Nokia and Loudeye Corp. announced that they have signed an agreement
for Nokia to acquire Loudeye for approximately USD 60 million. Loudeye
is a global leader of digital music platforms and digital media distribution
services. Under the terms of the agreement, Loudeye stockholders will
receive USD 4.50 per share in cash for each share of Loudeye common
stock. By acquiring Loudeye, Nokia can offer consumers a comprehensive
mobile music experience, including devices, applications and the ability
to purchase digital music.
The multi-function mobile device will become the preferred medium
for enjoying music and Nokia is leading this trend. With music optimized
products like the Nokia N91( above ) and other Nokia
devices, Nokia sold more than 15 million music enabled devices in
the 2nd quarter, making it the world's largest manufacture of digital
music players.
"Music is a key experience for Nokia and Nokia Nseries multimedia
computers and we want to be able to offer the best fully integrated
mobile music experience to our customers. Loudeye brings a number
of key assets to Nokia, including a great team of people, a substantial
content catalogue and a robust service platform that will help us
to achieve this objective," said Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice
president and general manager, Multimedia, Nokia. "People should
be able to access all the music they want, anywhere, anytime and at
a reasonable cost. With this acquisition, we aim to deliver that vision
and a comprehensive music experience to Nokia device owners during
2007."
Loudeye operates 60 live services in over 20 countries and multiple
languages across Europe and South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Loudeye aggregates rights and content from all the major labels and
hundreds of independents and currently offers licensed catalog and
complete media for over 1.6 million tracks.
"This agreement recognizes the key roles that Loudeye and our
people play in the digital mobile music market, and reflects the power
of our products, our team and our technology," said Michael Brochu,
president and chief executive officer of Loudeye. "Our combined
teams will deliver a comprehensive mobile music experience to Nokia
device owners all over the world. With an industry leading music experience,
a robust service platform, and extensive music rights, Loudeye has
long been committed to delivering on the digital music needs of consumers,
and we've built a leadership brand in the digital music marketplace".
Nokia Nseries multimedia computers represent the next leap forward
in personal computing. The multimedia computer offers all the functionalities
of a PC and many portable single purpose devices in a connected mobile
device that is always with you and always connected. Because multimedia
computers have a programmable operating system, people can download
and install software applications. Unlike most mobile devices, this
means people can add features and applications to their multimedia
computers without having to buy a new device.
Tens of millions of Nokia devices have a music player and every Nokia
Nseries device incorporates a music player, high memory capacity and
an FM radio, as well as support for a wide range of digital music
formats including MP3, M4A, AAC and WMA. With the Nokia Nseries, you
can quickly and easily find and purchase music over the air and download
it to your device from your music store. Or, simply drag and drop
your personal music collection from your PC to your Nokia Nseries
device or synchronize your recent music purchases with your PC via
Bluetooth or USB cable.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter
of 2006. Closing of the transaction is subject to satisfaction of
a number of conditions, including approval of Loudeye's stockholders,
regulatory approvals, obtaining consents from third parties to the
continuation, modification, extension and/or termination of certain
specified contracts, and the absence of a material adverse effect
in Loudeye's business or operations, including loss of employees,
loss of customers, or failure to maintain a minimum specified cash
balance, each as described in the merger agreement.
