Spotify Buys Ringer
Share
A story about how Spotify acquired The Ringer, a sports podcast network, for a surprisingly high multiple.
"The Ringer, when they got bought by Spotify, they were a sports network of podcasts led by Bill Simmons. Bill Simmons was sort of like the Conan O'Brien of that network. They got bought for $200 million. What's crazy is it's not even exclusive to Spotify, which is just wild to me.
When the Ringer sold to Spotify for $200 million, I think they were doing about $15 million in revenue. It wasn't like Spotify was buying this for a revenue multiple. They were just like 'we need to strategically move into podcasting.' So they went and got Rogan, got the Ringer, got Gimlet. They bought Gimlet also for a lot of money. They bought Anchor, that podcasting tool that nobody was using, for like $150 million. They splurged, and I think that splurge window is now closed."
Shaan Puri
Host of MFM
Shaan Puri is the Chairman and Co-Founder of The Milk Road. He previously worked at Twitch as a Senior Director of Product, Mobile Gaming, and Emerging Markets. He also attended Duke University.