Photo Credit: Derrick Treadwell
About four months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Muzak parent company Mood Media has been acquired by San Francisco-headquartered Vector Capital.
Vector Capital and Mood Media announced the buyout this morning, in a formal statement emailed to Digital Music News. As part of the acquisition, which the involved companies expect will close by 2020’s end, Vector is set to “make a meaningful equity investment in” the Muzak owner. And existing investors intend to “support Mood Media with a new credit facility” once the deal is finalized.
The release doesn’t specify the financial terms of the contract, but given Mood Media’s recent bankruptcy as well as ongoing lockdowns and retail closures, it’s possible that Vector acquired the asset at a bargain price.
Aside from the background-music mainstay Muzak – which filed for bankruptcy a couple years prior to being purchased by Mood Media in a $345 million deal – Mood owns entertainment-kiosk brand Somerset Entertainment, interactive-media service provider Technomedia, and audio-visual installation business BIS Group, to name just some.
Mood Media bought these and other companies during the last decade or so, and despite filing for bankruptcy earlier this year, once again, the business will continue to expand its roster in the coming months and years, per Vector Capital Principal Sandy Gill.
“We look forward to partnering with Mood Media during its next stage of growth and helping the company’s leadership team accelerate its development through both organic initiatives and strategic acquisitions,” Gill said in part.
Vector Capital Managing Director David Fishman echoed the sentiment – and the idea that the acquisition will afford Mood Media the resources needed to maintain and expand operations – in a statement of his own.
“We are confident that our long-term capital support will enable Mood Media to invest in the technology initiatives and acquisitions that will further differentiate Mood and accelerate our product vision,” Fishman relayed.
As an interesting final aside, in terms of Vector Capital’s interest in the music industry, the venture firm possesses a minority stake in (former) Napster owner RealNetworks. Since selling the rebranded music-streaming platform to London-based VR startup MelodyVR in late August, as part of a $70 million deal, RealNetworks has seen its shares (traded as RNWK) crack $1.80 apiece.
At the end of today’s trading hours, RNWK finished at $1.56 – the same as yesterday’s closing value. More broadly, however, the per-share worth signifies a major uptick from the 42 cents that RNWK touched during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March.