French music streaming service Deezer has merged with a special-purpose acquisition company with a view to list publicly at €1.05 billion (A$1.54 billion).
Deezer has struggled since forming in 2007, amassing only 9.6 million subscribers in that time, and failing to turn a profit since conception. In comparison, by the end of 2021, Spotify had 406 million monthly active users on its platform.
Deezer’s 2021 operating loss was €120.6 million (A$176.8 million).
Deezer was valued at €1 billion in 2018, off the back of a fundraising round of €160 million, meaning the company has barely accrued any value in the following four years, despite the music industry flourishing during that time. This deal will give the company an injection of €425 million
Deezer has a foothold in its native France, with a 29 per cent market share, despite only capturing 2 per cent of the global market.
Deezer’s merger with Paris-listed I2PO, a blank-check company headed by former WarnerMedia executive Iris Knobloch, will mark its first public listing, following a false start in 2015.
Knobloch will become chairman of Deezer by the end of the year.
The company is aiming to be profitable by 2025, when it hopes to reach €1 billion revenue.
