Report: iLike looking to be sold |
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Report: iLike looking to be sold
Seattle online music startup iLike is on the auction block, according to a report by All Things D. Citing multiple unnamed sources, Peter Kafka reports that potential buyers include Seattle-based RealNetworks and West Hollywood, Calif.-based Ticketmaster.
Both RealNetworks and Ticketmaster already have a relationship with iLike, an online music recommendation service that boasts more than 30 million members.
Ticketmaster purchased 25 percent of iLike in 2006, valuing the company at about $53 million at the time. Kafka hasn't heard a purchase price, but says that iLike's "executives and investors are worried about keeping the company afloat as a standalone entity." Kafka also floats Facebook as a possible buyer, since the social network essentially uses iLike as its online music partner.
RealNetworks, which had $406 million in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments at the end of the third quarter, aligned itself with iLike earlier this year as part of the company's "Music without Limits" initiative.
Ali and Hadi Partovi -- the twin brothers who run iLike -- could not be reached for comment. RealNetworks spokesperson Bill Hankes declined to comment on whether the company -- which operates the Rhapsody online music subscription service -- is an interested buyer.
"We talk to people all of the time," he said. "To infer anything more than that would be speculation."
Even though RealNetworks is sitting on a significant cash pile, Hankes said the company has not picked up its acquisition pace in recent months as valuations fall. "We are being very careful with the cash that we do have," he said.
About John Cook
John Cook is co-founder and executive editor of TechFlash. He has been covering the technology beat for nearly a decade, writing about startups, entrepreneurs and venture capital, most recently serving as a reporter/blogger at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
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