Square, a payment processing company which is being run by Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, is reportedly in talks to acquire music streaming platform Tidal. It’s noteworthy that Bloomberg, which first reported the development, emphasizes that the deal isn’t guaranteed.
This comes at a time when Square is doing quite well. The company started with a square-shaped card reader that can be connected to their phones and tablets via a 3.5mm headphone jack and process transactions. Since then, the company has expanded its offerings by launching several new features and services, making it one of the leading players in the payments business.
On the other hand, Tidal was launched in the year 2014 by Norwegian public company Aspiro and is now owned by Project Panther Bidco. A year after its launch, in the year 2015, it was acquired by rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z, along with a number of backers, including Daft Punk, Jack White, and Kanye West.
While the company entered into a deal with several singers and musicians, many of them have petered out and it doesn’t have many exclusive titles on the platform. Tidal, which competes against the likes of Spotify and Apple Music, differentiated itself by offering a HiFi plan that unlocks HiFi and Masters streaming, offering 2304-9216 Kbps streams.
