UPDATE: The article has been updated to add details concerning enterprise value and financing of the acquisition.
Stockholm-based Storytel Group, a provider of phone-based audiobook and ebook streaming services, is set to acquire Audiobooks.com from investment firm KKR. With this acquisition, Storytel is marking its entry into the US market.
The enterprise value for the deal amounts to $135M (approx €117.84M) on a cash and debt-free basis and will be paid in cash. The acquisition will be financed through existing funds and a newly issued SEK 500M (approx €49.95M) loan facility with a termination date in Q1 2023, with Swedbank AB. The deal is expected to close at the end of December 2021.
The development lays the foundations for Storytel’s expansion into English-language markets and growth strategy to launch into large and established audio markets.
Jonas Tellander, CEO and founder of Storytel, says, “I have been impressed by Audiobooks.com’s success, expertise, and experience in the US market, as well as across the UK and Australia. Audiobooks.com is a growing profitable business with a consumer and partnership-friendly approach that offers Storytel a new platform for growth. I am now looking forward to working with our teams, publishers, and partners to make audiobook listening as popular on the English-speaking markets as it has become in recent years in the Nordics.”
Currently, Storytel has more than 1.7 million subscribers through operations in 25 markets, and a vast library of more than 700,000 titles and 30+ languages on a global scale.
About Audiobooks.com
It is streaming and downloads service app for audiobooks that offer access to 300,000 titles from hundreds of publishing partners to book lovers around the world. Founded in 2011, Audiobooks.com is now available to listeners in more than 150 different countries and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
Since its inception, the platform has made a strong brand presence in the US audiobook market.
Ian Small, GM at Audiobooks.com, who will remain in his position following the acquisition, says, “I am proud of the success that the Audiobooks.com team has achieved, positioning the company as one of the leading US services for audiobooks. With Storytel, we join a group with an aligned vision and values that offer a solid base and global scale to address a market of hundreds of millions of English-speaking consumers.
Small further added, “With the combined industry expertise of Storytel and Audiobooks.com, we will continue to fuel the passion and interest of the English-speaking audiences and take our service to the next level.”
What does Storytel offer?
Founded in 2005 by Jon Hauksson and Jonas Tellander, Storytel claims to be one of the world’s largest subscribed audiobook and ebook streaming services that offers listening and reading of more than 700,000 titles on a global scale.
The company’s vision is to make the world a more empathetic and creative place with great stories to be shared and enjoyed by anyone, anywhere, and anytime. Its streaming business is conducted under the brands Storytel and Mofibo.
Storytel’s publishing business area is carried out through the audiobook publisher StorySide and Nordic publishing houses such as Norstedts, People’s and Gummerus.
01
Dutch at Slush 2024: Meet the four 4TU startups who are fundraising at the world’s most founder-focused event