Days after closing down their Sydney office, reports have surfaced that embattled music streaming company SoundCloud may be acquired by private firms.
Reports out of Bloomberg say that the company is “close to a deal to sell stakes in the company to a pair of private equity firms.”
Little is known about the identity of the firms or the size of their potential investments in the company. However, Bloomberg report that “Combined, the two private equity firms would own a majority of SoundCloud.”
Despite moving in March to secure $70 million in debt funding from investors, the company was forced to lay-off 40% of staff last week.
Only a few weeks ago, SoundCloud CEO Alex Ljung has moved to directly reassured fans and investors on the company’s blog.
He says “there’s an insane amount of noise about SoundCloud in the world right now. And it’s just that, noise. The music you love on SoundCloud isn’t going away, the music you shared or uploaded isn’t going away, because SoundCloud is not going away. Not in 50 days, not in 80 days or anytime in the foreseeable future. Your music is safe.”
SoundCloud’s troubles have even recently seen the service’s biggest star get involved, with award-winning hip-hop artist Chance the Rapper reassuring fans, albeit cryptically, over Twitter that the company is here to stay.
