Apple Inc., one of the world’s largest IT companies, is expected to win unconditional EU antitrust approval for its proposed acquisition of Shazam. Headquartered in London, the music discovery app boasts of about 300 to 400 million users annually, as per early 2018 reports.
As per sources familiar with the knowledge of the matter, the companies had announced the deal in December 2017, as Apple seeks to strengthen its position in competing with Spotify, which leads the music streaming services industry. Shazam, for the uninformed, is used to identify songs that a listener does not recognize by pointing the smartphone towards the audio source.
After the deal was revealed, seven European countries, including Italy, France, Spain and Sweden have requested the European Commission to handle the approvals, records further mention. Subsequently, the Commission had taken over the case from EU regulators and launched a full-scale investigation into the transaction in April this year.
Sources imply that the EU has been worrying over the possibility of big companies buying out a data-rich industry competitor to use its resources for gaining information or force other players out of the market. The EU antitrust authority has also made a statement showing concerns over Apple’s Shazam buyout, citing unfair advantage in attracting users away from rival platforms and the probability of Apple blocking referrals to its rivals from Shazam.
Although Apple had not disclosed the total value of the acquisition, sources at the time had hinted at a $400 million payout, which is quite low as compared to the more recent data on Shazam that pegged the privately-held company at a $1 billion valuation.
Reliable sources confirmed that the EU executive is scheduled to deliver a verdict on the deal by September 18. Apple as well as the EU Commissions spokesperson declined to comment on the issue as of now.