Jay-Z finalises sale of Tidal to Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey

Jay-Z has finalised the sale of his majority stake in streaming service Tidal to Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and CEO of Twitter. 

As reported by TMZ, Jay sold his share to Dorsey’s financial services company Square for USD $350 million.

After having announced back in March that Dorsey planned to buy Jay’s stake, sources told TMZ that the pair sealed the deal on Friday of last week.

According to TMZ, Square now has an 80 per cent ownership of Tidel, along with licensing deals with the major record labels associated with the company.

Reportedly, Jay and Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez, who helped broker the deal, will both remain on Square’s board to help run Tidal.

Jay launched Tidal back in 2015 in partnership with artists including Beyonce, Rihanna, Kanye West, Madonna, Chris Martin, Alicia Keys and Calvin Harris.

His deal with Dorsey isn’t the first time he’s sold part of his stake, as Sprint (now a part of T-Mobile) bought 33 per cent of it for an undisclosed amount in 2017.

As reported by the New York Times, Jay bought back the shares from T-Mobile in March, prior to Dorsey’s acquisition.

Back in March, Jack Dorsey took to Twitter to explain his decision to buy the stake from Jay-Z.

“Why would a music streaming company and a financial services company join forces? The real reason is to spot “new ways for artists to support their work, he said.

“It comes down to a simple idea: “finding new ways for artists to support their work. New ideas are found at the intersections, and we believe there’s a compelling one between music and the economy. Making the economy work for artists is similar to what Square has done for sellers,” he continued.

Square is acquiring a majority ownership stake in TIDAL through a new joint venture, with the original artists becoming the second largest group of shareholders, and JAY-Z joining the Square board. Why would a music streaming company and a financial services company join forces?!

— jack (@jack) March 4, 2021

Meanwhile, Jay also declared on Twitter at the time that Dorsey was “one of the greatest minds of our time”.

“Our many discussions about TIDAL’s endless possibilities have made me even more inspired about its future…. this shared vision makes me even more excited to join the Square board,” he said.

I said from the beginning that TIDAL was about more than just streaming music, and six years later, it has remained a platform that supports artists at every point in their careers. Artists deserve better tools to assist them in their creative journey.

— Mr. Carter (@sc) March 4, 2021

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.