Tencent Music eyes podcast startup Ximalaya for $2.4 billion
Tencent Music
Entertainment Group is in advanced talks to buy Chinese podcasting startup
Ximalaya
Inc. in a $2.4 billion deal that would accelerate its push to become China's answer to
Spotify Technology SA
, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
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Tencent Music, controlled by Chinese tech firm
Tencent Holdings
Ltd., plans to use a combination of cash and shares for the acquisition, said the people, asking not to be named because the information is private. An agreement could be reached as soon as the coming weeks, the people said.
Talks are ongoing and no final decisions have been made, the people said. A representative for Tencent Music didn't immediately respond to a request seeking comment, while Ximalaya declined to comment.
Closely held Ximalaya counts Tencent, Baidu Inc. and
Sony Group
Corp.'s music entertainment unit as backers. The company filed for a Hong Kong initial public offering in 2021, but it pushed back the plan. The app-based online audio platform had 303 million monthly active users as of 2023, according to a separate listing application it filed last year.
Tencent Music is one of the biggest online music entertainment platforms in China, with apps such as
QQ Music
, Kugou, Kuwo and WeSing, according to its website. It has grown both organically and via acquisitions, and got listed in the US in a $1.1 billion IPO in 2018. Its shares have climbed about 17% this year, giving it a market value of about $20.6 billion.
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Australia's economy does well when China's economy does well, whether it be buying iron ore, whether it be buying tourists going to Australia to buy products, so that is why the Aussie has strengthened and the US dollar is weakened. Now when it comes to liquidity and volume going back towards China, we are still at a very initial of the global funds only have about 25% of their holdings exposed to China. I recommend retail investors to have 15% to 20% because of the volatility and the regulatory we are seeing in my conversations with institutional investors like hedge funds that they want to come back into China, but they have not come back yet. 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