Best Buy to buy Napster

Retailer purchases site for around $121 million

By Joseph Palenchar of TWICE -- Video Business, 9/15/2008

SEPT. 15 | FROM TWICE: MINNEAPOLIS—Best Buy will buy the money-losing Napster music-download and -streaming site for around $121 million, including Napster’s international operations and mobile-phone services.

“We can foresee Napster acting as a platform for accelerating our growth in the emerging industry of digital entertainment, beyond music subscriptions,” said Dave Morrish, Best Buy’s connected digital solutions executive VP. The chain will use the purchase to “leverage our existing relationships with the labels, the studios, and the hardware providers,” he added, calling Napster and its 700,000 subscribers “an outstanding addition to our already robust portfolio of partners and offerings in the digital music space.”

Information on Best Buy’s future relationship with Rhapsody, which currently powers the Best Buy music-download site, was unavailable. Information was also unavailable on whether Napster would continue to power the co-branded Circuit City/Napster download site.

The transaction, expected to close during the fourth quarter, has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of Napster.

Read the full article at TWICE.com.

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