Spotify on Thursday said it will buy Ohio-based audiobooks distribution company Findaway as the Swedish streaming service continues to expand its audio offerings beyond music and podcasts.
“It is Spotify’s ambition to be the destination for all things audio both for listeners and creators,” Gustav S？derstr？m, Spotify’s chief research & development officer, said in a statement. “The acquisition of Findaway will accelerate Spotify’s presence in the audiobook space and will help us more quickly meet that ambition.”
Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, were not disclosed.
Spotify gained a global following first as a music streaming service, but in recent years it has made significant investments into becoming a podcast company. In 2019, it purchased New York podcast production company Gimlet Media for around $230 million, and since then has also acquired L.A.-based podcast businesses Parcast and the Ringer. In March, it purchased the company behind live audio app Locker Room.
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Founded in 2004, Solon, Ohio-based Findaway provides technology that helps authors distribute and produce their audiobooks. It also sells preloaded audiobook players.
“We look forward to combining our leading technology tools and world-class team with the reach of Spotify’s platform to provide an enhanced audio experience for creators, publishers and listeners around the world,” Findaway founder and CEO Mitch Kroll said in a statement.
Kroll will continue to lead Findaway and report to Spotify’s head of audiobooks, Nir Zicherman.
Findaway will add to Spotify’s efforts in the audiobooks space and help grow Spotify’s audience of more than 381 million monthly active users.
In May, Spotify entered into a partnership that would allow audiobook service Storytel customers to link their accounts together so they could listen to more than 500,000 audiobooks through Storytel on Spotify’s app. Storytel said that the option would be available later this year.
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