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Jay Z sells Tidal majority stake to Square for $297 million

Jay-Z

Jay-Z

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Superstar mogul Jay-Z had a remarkable financial year so far! On Thursday, it was announced that the company Square, a mobile payments company founded by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, would acquire a “significant majority” stake in the streaming platform Tidal, owned by Jay-Z. In reference to the acquisition, the announcement read: 

“Square expects to pay a mix of cash and stock of $297 million for a significant majority ownership stake, and existing artist shareholders will be the remaining stakeholders. TIDAL will operate independently within Square, alongside the Seller and Cash App ecosystems.”

Jay-Z, real name Sean Carter, acquired Tidal in 2015 as part of his $56 million acquisition of its parent tech company Aspiro. He would later partner with other influential musicians such as Madonna, Beyonce, and Kanye West, making them artist shareholders as well as offering the highest royalty rates to all artists streamed on Tidal. In 2017, he sold 33% of the company to Sprint for $200 million. According to The New York Times, Carter bought those shares back earlier this week, so that they could be included in the deal with Square. 

According to Forbes, Jay-Z will gain $149 million in cash and stocks from this deal, raising his net worth from $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion. In addition to the increase in wealth, he will also join Square’s Board of Directors. 


Recently, Carter sold a 50% stake of his Champagne house, Armand de Brignac, to Moet Hennessy, for an amount reported around $300 million.

He once said, “I’m not a businessman… I’m a businessman!” Today, that line has never seemed more accurate.

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