CBS Acquiring Music Social Network, Last.fm for $280 Million

CBS Corporation[1] will be acquiring Last.fm[2] for $280 million. Last.fm has more than 15 million monthly users of which 4 million are in the U.S.

“Last.fm is one of the most well-established, fastest-growing online community networks out there,” stated CBS’ CEO, Leslie Moonves. “Their demographics also play perfectly to CBS’ goal to attract younger viewers and listeners”[3].

Last.fm is based in London, England and was founded by Felix Miller, Martin Stiksel, and Richard Jones. Last.FM competes among the likes of Yahoo! Music and Real Networks’ Rhapsody player.

The idea behind Last.fm is to provide users the ability to listen to 30 second clips of music and then socialize with others who enjoy the same song. Last.fm then also suggests related songs that the user may enjoy and has a “buy this album” button that links to Amazon.com’s listings. Last.fm also has the ability to tag and write a journal on songs and albums. One of the latest features is a widget that can be embedded on websites, blogs, and/or social network profiles.

There was a recent rumor that Viacom would acquire Last.fm for $450 million so if this is true, CBS got a great deal. CBS has also recently acquired WallStrip, a humorous financial video website. CBS plans on placing their own content within Wall Strip and Last.fm

[1] CBS website: www.cbs.com
[2] Last.fm website: www.last.fm
[3] L.A. Times: CBS to buy social network

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