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Business News Offers Digital
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 3 September 2020
Chinese web giant Tencent has increased its stake in Indian streaming service Gaana after injecting more money into the business. The music platform’s majority shareholder, Indian media conglom Times Group, has also provided new funding, although not as much. As a result, although Times Group remains the largest shareholder, its stake has dropped and Tencent’s has increased.
Tencent first bought Gaana in 2018, further expanding its interests in the music business. Through its company Tencent Music Entertainment and other subsidiaries, the Tencent group has its fingers in many musical cakes, of course.
It is the market leader in music streaming in China through its QQ Music, Kugou, Kuwo and WeSing services, in addition to operating another streaming platform called Joox in several other mainly Asian markets. And then there are Tencent’s holdings in Universal Music, Warner Music, and Spotify, and its partnerships in China with various other music firms.
As a China-owned company, Tencent, like TikTok owner Bytedance, currently has to navigate some political challenges, particularly in India and the US, amid allegations that the Chinese government has access to hearings. and user data for Chinese-operated applications. Business.
Tencent’s WeChat messaging app in particular has come under fire from both the Indian and US governments. However, to date, all of those political shenanigans are not really affecting non-Chinese companies that have Tencent as a shareholder.
Confirming the latest round of funding, a Gaana spokesperson told reporters: “We recently raised [3.75 billion rupee] debt from existing shareholders, Times Internet and Tencent. Gaana is India’s leading music streaming service with over [185 million] monthly active users, and it is incubated and is majority owned by Times Internet ”.
