Rapper Jay Z is expanding his business portfolio by buying his own streaming service. He’s reportedly snapped up Scandinavian streaming company Aspiro for a cool $56 million.
The “Holy Grail” rapper’s company, Project Panther Bidco Ltd, told Reuters this morning that it will buy the service, which is listed in Sweden.
Aspiro runs the WiMP streaming service and Project Panther says that it has been closely watching the company’s growth. It believes Aspiro is "an innovative high-quality company with strong future growth potential.”
Aspiro isn’t a well-known name in the U.S., but it certainly could be soon if Jay Z starts promoting it heavily. According to TIME, its WiMP is only available in Europe, while its other service, Tidal, is currently available in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland and the U.K.
Jay Z is not only one of the most popular recording artists around the world, but he’s also a business entrepreneur. He made $60 million in 2013, Forbes reported. He has his own label, Roc Nation, and has his own sports agency, called Roc Nation Sports.
He’s also not the only rap mogul to have his own streaming service. Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s Beats launched its own service, which is now owned by Apple.
image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com