Music karaoke app Musical.ly is being sold to Chinese company Beijing ByteDance Technology Co.
According to reports, the deal has been agreed with a sale price of more than $800m.
ByteDance owns Chinese media startup Jinri Toutiao, which acquired Musical.ly rival Flipagram back in February.
In a joint statement, the companies said: “Musical.ly will continue to operate as an independent platform, integrating Bytedance’s global leading AI technology and leveraging its reach in China and key markets across Asia to enhance Musical.ly’s offering to users, creators, and partners.”
The Wall Street Journal pegs the Musical.ly sale price at ‘”$800m – $1bn’, while Bloomberg suggests it’s going for a straight $800m.
Lip-synching music platform Musical.ly was founded in Shanghai by Louis Yang and Alex Zhu in 2014.
The company claims over 100m active users.
Some commentators have suggested that Musical.ly’s growth has begun to hit its limits as it struggles to find an audience beyond ‘Millennials’.Music Business Worldwide
