Money handling company of Twitter CEO Dorsey takes majority stake in Tidal

Square has bought a majority stake in Tidal from rapper Jay-Z. The payment processor pays an equivalent of 248 million euros for it. With the acquisition, Square CEO Jack Dorsey says that Tidal will soon be able to help musicians earn more money.

How many shares Square in Tidal is taking is not clear in the press release . Square talks about a ‘significant majority stake’. Both Jay-Z and the musicians who were already shareholders will continue to have stakes in the company. Tidal will continue to operate independently within Square.

Artists, according to Tidal, are entrepreneurs ‘with a dream’ who need access to systems to make their dreams come true. Square CEO Jack Dorsey thinks Square can help with that, saying the music industry and the money industry are overlapping. On Twitter, Dorsey writes that she first wants to focus on ‘the most critical needs of artists and growing their numbers of fans’. There will also be ‘new listening experiences’ to bring fans closer together, it should become easier to buy merchandise and there will be new income streams for artists.

Tidal is a music streaming service founded in Norway in 2014. The streaming service is known for the lossless CD quality of the streams, among other things. In addition, the company claims to pay the highest royalties to artists within the streaming industry. Jay-Z took over the company in early 2015.

Money handling company Square was founded in 2009 by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, among others. The company makes, among other things, a scanner that you plug into a Lightning or 3.5 mm port and that lets you scan the magnetic stripe of a bank card. The company also sells POS systems and cash handling software.