Billionaire Carlos Slim of America Movil has invested $40 million into Shazam, the developer behind the popular music recognition app of the same name, reports Reuters. Slim is ranked the world's top billionaire with a net worth of $73 billion.
The move is surprising for 73-year-old Slim, who built his company America Movil in a more staid sector, namely the highly regulated telecommunications and TV business in Latin America. Before Shazam, Slim's only forays into Europe were to plough 4.8 billion euros ($6.1 billion) into stakes in Dutch operator KPN and Telekom Austria, on which he is nursing huge paper losses after their shares declined sharply in the past year.
Shazam says it will use the funds to accelerate its expansion into television where its software will be able to recognize shows and ads to display accompanying information to viewers.
"Within 18 months we expect TV will significantly outperform the music side (of the business) and that's part of this investment," Andrew Fisher, executive chairman of Shazam, said in an interview.
You can download Shazam from the App Store for free.
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The move is surprising for 73-year-old Slim, who built his company America Movil in a more staid sector, namely the highly regulated telecommunications and TV business in Latin America. Before Shazam, Slim's only forays into Europe were to plough 4.8 billion euros ($6.1 billion) into stakes in Dutch operator KPN and Telekom Austria, on which he is nursing huge paper losses after their shares declined sharply in the past year.
Shazam says it will use the funds to accelerate its expansion into television where its software will be able to recognize shows and ads to display accompanying information to viewers.
"Within 18 months we expect TV will significantly outperform the music side (of the business) and that's part of this investment," Andrew Fisher, executive chairman of Shazam, said in an interview.
You can download Shazam from the App Store for free.
Read More