CBS / Last.fm

CBS, the New York listed media company, announced it has acquired Last.fm, the UK online radio company, for USD 280m. CBS purchased the property which is one of the largest social platforms online for USD 280m in cash. Last.fm currently has more than 15 million active users in more than 200 countries. This acquisition follows a number of CBS Interactive announcements including the purchase of Wallstrip.com, investments in Joost and Spot Runner and the recent expansion of the CBS Audience Network to include a total of 25 online partners.

As part of the acquisition, the Last.fm team, including founders Felix Miller, Martin Stiksel and Richard Jones, will continue to independently run the online network. The Last.fm management team will work with all relevant CBS divisions to apply their community-building and technology expertise to extend CBS businesses online and within the mobile space.

Founded in 2002, Last.fm creates communities around music by bringing together listeners, artists and music. Through its unique "scrobbling" technology and social recommendation engine, Last.fm builds a comprehensive profile of each user's musical taste and leverages each user's song list to make highly personalized recommendations, connect users who share similar tastes, provide custom radio streams and other music related community features. In addition, the site has an "Events" listing that can recommend over 200,000 festival and music events globally. Last.fm has a sizable global footprint spanning more than 200 countries with the largest concentration of users in the United States, Britain, Germany, Poland, Brazil, and Japan. Last.fm's large and growing user base is predominately young, engaged and very involved on the site.

(C) Company Press Release