Berkeley-based MOG, a streaming music service, looks likely to be acquired by Beats Electronics, the headset manufacturer founded by Dr. Dre and now majority owned by Taiwanese mobile phone company HTC. According to Reuters, the deal could be closed within the next two weeks. The purchase price is undisclosed.
David Hyman, the CEO and founder of MOG, spoke at the beginning of this month at Berkeleyside’s Local Business Forum. There, he talked passionately about the benefits of being in Berkeley.
Hyman founded MOG seven years ago and has raised $33 million in venture funding. Half of the company’s revenues come from the MOG ad network, which sells advertising on music sites. The other half comes from subscriptions to its streaming music service, which was launched in 2009. According to The New York Times, fewer than 100,000 of MOG’s 500,000 active users are subscribers. MOG competes with a number of services, including Spotify, which claims 3 million paying subscribers, according to The Times.
Beats is based in Santa Monica, while mobile phone manufacturer HTC, which bought 51% of Beats last August, is based in Taiwan. Technology site Gigaom speculates that the acquisition could help HTC launch a streaming music service available on its handsets.
Related:
Startup Forum: What does it take to make it in Berkeley?
