Amazon acquires the Wondery podcast network to compete with Spotify

Amazon is the second most valued company in the US. Besides the online and offline retail and logistics business, it has a plethora of entertainment services under one umbrella. Some of these services include established brand names such as Audible, Kindle, Amazon Music, Prime Video, and Prime Music. And now, popular podcast network Wondery is joining the list with the announcement of its acquisition by Amazon.

Wondery is one of the top five podcast publishers in the US and is home to noted podcast shows such as Dr. Death and Dirty John. As per the blog post announcement, content from Wondery will be available on Amazon Music, which received support for podcasts in September 2020. Amazon notes that after this deal, the existing Wondery shows will continue to be available on all of the existing platforms and not restricted to Amazon Music exclusively. This means if you are a user, you can access shows on Spotify, Apple Music, and a whole lot of other podcast streaming services.

The blog notes that the deal completion awaits “customary closing conditions.” Until then, nothing changes in terms of how the platform works. Moreover, there is no clear information on what happens to the existing Wonder+ subscribers once the deal concludes. Meanwhile, Ben Mullin of The Wall Street Journal reports that once the deal goes through, Wondery CEO Hernan Lopez will step down from their existing role and COO Jen Sargent will be filling the position.

While the conditions of the deal have not been made public, previous reports from Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal suggest Wondery was valued at a minimum of $300 million. Before Amazon, Apple and Sony were also reportedly in talks to acquire the company.

While Amazon joined the podcast clan late, this deal is expected to put Amazon Music on the same level as competitors such as Apple Music and especially Spotify, which has signed exclusive deals with major creators such as Joe Rogan.

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