Spotify acquired the audiobook distribution platform Findaway for €117 million, or roughly $122 million at the time of the deal, according to a Thursday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Stockholm-based audio giant first announced it was purchasing the platform, which offers full-service and self-service production for audiobooks, last November. At the time, Spotify’s chief research and development officer, Gustav Söderström, said the deal would “accelerate Spotify’s presence in the audiobook space and will help us more quickly meet that ambition.”
The deal closed on June 15, according to the filing, and Spotify incurred €5 million in acquisition costs. The filing also disclosed that Spotify paid €83 million for the podcast analytic firms Podsights and Chartable in February and €91 million for the AI voice startup Sonantic on July 11.
Spotify first began testing out its audiobook strategy in early 2021 with the release of nine exclusive audiobook recordings with talent like Cynthia Erivo, Forest Whitaker, David Dobrik and Audra McDonald reading a collection of literary classics like Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
On Wednesday, Spotify reported having 188 million paying subscribers during the second quarter. Ad revenue during Q2 increased by 31 percent to €360 million, or roughly $365 million, and represented 13 percent of Spotify’s total revenue.
