Beatport for sale as SFX looks to unbundle assets
Beatport for sale thanks to SFX Entertainment’s restructuring and inability to keep the hastily acquired empire afloat.
This is pretty big news for the electronic music industry.
Putting up Beatport for sale through auction is one of the CEO, Robert Sillerman’s latest moves in trying to salvage the SFX Entertainment Company.
Earlier we reported that Beatport’s online store lost as much as $5.5m in 2015. If a company was looking to dominate the world of dance music then owning Beatport would be a great asset, however the online music retail store is the first go.
According to a report by Billboard, SFX Entertainment has already been in talks regarding putting up Beatport for sale with twenty four different parties.
They will be lodging their bids for Beatport by the 28th of April this year. The auction will happen on the 3rd of May 2016 and bidding will start at $250,000. The new owners will be announced by the 5th of May 2016.
It’s interesting to look at how this CEO has approached a takeover of the EDM world and it raises a few questions on just how knowledgeable he and his board were about the dance music industry before taking the reins.
If their goal was to monopolise the industry then it seems they may have been too quick on the draw when buying out so many different companies at once. Especially now that they have to start chopping them off one by one.
Another casualty of the SFX bankruptcy is the TommorowWorld festival, last year’s event resulted in weather related cancellations, a drug overdose, and shortcomings by SFX and ID&T, the organisers.
“Dear Friends, It’s with a heavy heart that we inform you, TomorrowWorld will not take place in 2016. Unfortunately in the current environment, it is not possible to give you the best and unique experience you deserve.” TommorowWorld statement
Following the sale of Beatport is Fame House, a company that specialises in “building, marketing, managing, and monetizing its clients’ online presence”.
SFX states that “creditors no longer view Fame House as ‘core’ to the company’s business.”
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