Spotify Acquires Bill Simmons's The Ringer to Expand Podcast Empire
Spotify purchases sports and culture media company The Ringer to strengthen its growing podcast network. The streaming giant plans to retain all 90 employees while prioritizing the company's popular audio content.
Spotify acquires The Ringer, the sports and culture media company founded by Bill Simmons, marking its fourth major podcast acquisition in the past year. The streaming music giant intends to hire Simmons and his approximately 90 employees as it continues its aggressive push into the podcasting space. While Spotify plans to keep The Ringer's website operational, the primary motivation behind the deal is to capture the company's successful portfolio of more than 30 podcasts.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek praises the acquisition by comparing The Ringer to a modern version of ESPN, highlighting Simmons's unique ability to attract top talent and build a highly successful podcast network. The financial terms of the agreement remain undisclosed, though the transaction is scheduled to close in the first quarter of 2020. Following the pattern of previous acquisitions like Gimlet Media, Spotify is expected to keep The Ringer's existing content available across all podcast platforms rather than locking it exclusively to Spotify.
This purchase fits perfectly into Spotify's broader strategy of using podcasts to attract new users and increase the engagement of its current audience. By spending hundreds of millions of dollars over the last twelve months to acquire podcast networks, Spotify is also building a targeted advertising business that leverages user demographics and online behavior to sell premium audio ads.