Audioboom Group shares surged to a record high in London trading Monday amid reports that both Amazon (AMZN) and Spotify (SPOT) are preparing competing takeover bids for the U.K.-based podcasting group.
Britain's Sky News reported the pair's interest in Audioboom, a small but growing podcast producer and collator that generated around $60 million in revenues over the three months ending in December and a modest $3 million profit.
The group does, however, boast around 116 million in monthly downloads, alongside 32 million unique listeners, making it an attractive proposition for both Spotify and Amazon, which acquired Art19, a podcast hosting and monetization platform, for an undisclosed price last summer. It also paid $300 million for the podcast network Wondery in December of 2020 as it looks to grow the market for audio advertising.
Sky News said one of the bids for Audioboom could come as early as this month, but also noted that public disclosure of the potential deal could alter both the interest and the timeline.
Audioboom shares were marked 10.4% higher in late-morning trading in London to change hands at a record £19.44 each.
Earlier this month, Spotify forecast softer-than-expected user growth that overshadowed a solid fourth quarter earnings report for the group as it grappled with the vaccine controversy surrounding host Joe Rogan's popular podcast.
Spotify said paid subscribers to it network would grow to 183 million in the current quarter, with revenues forecast in the region of €2.6 billion, but declined to offer guidance on annual growth rates, suggesting it could lose a trove listeners over the controversy as several artists, lead by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, demanded the removal of their music from the platform.
Still, for the three months ending in December, Spotify had 180 million active users and a staggering 3.6 million podcasts on its platform.
Amazon, for its part, said on February 4 that it will begin separating advertising services revenue from other group revenues as part of its new corporate disclosures.
"Advertising has certainly added a layer of contribution over the last few years," CFO Brian Olsavsky told investors on a conference call. "But again, that only works and it's only successful if we make it a good customer experience. So, we're really working hard to do that."
