Petteri Pyyny
28 Jun 2001 5:18
Yahoo! has agreed to acquire digital music website operator Launch Media for $12M inb cash, Launch announced today. Yahoo pays 92 cents for each share, giving 59% premium for shareholders (Launch's share price was $0.58 yesterday) and expects to complete the acquisition in Q3/2001.
As part of the deal, Yahoo extended its $3 million loan to Launch, in addition to a $2 million loan it provided Launch late last month. Launch media operations will continue to be based in Santa Monica, California, and its co-founders, Chief Executive Officer David Goldberg and President Bob Roback, will remain with Launch following the acquisition.
Additionally Launch settled its copyright dispute with four major record labels (all major ones except AOL TimeWarner) and will very likely remove interactive components from its Launchcast service that launched the lawsuit in May.