World’s richest man, Carlos Slim, splashes $40m on Shazam
Carlos Slim, The world’s richest man, has splashed $40m into mobile music identification app Shazam via his wireless firm America Movil.
The deal will see the Mexican firm pre-load Shazam onto its mobile phones in the region and includes a ‘substantial secondary element’, according to Shazam CEO Rich Riley.
Shazam has now raised a total of $104m in venture funding thanks to earlier contributions from Kleiner Perkins, Institutional Venture Partners and DN Capital, cash which Riley will use to make the app a destination for music fans, expand TV partnerships and look for acquisitions.
The app allows users to identify songs, ads and TV shows simply by scanning the sound; allowing the company to take a cut of $300m in affiliate music sales.
Shazam for TV has struggled to make an impact thus far however as the service is largely redundant when viewers can simply click ‘info’ to find out more directly from their TV’s or conduct a quick Google search.