Napster director appointment renews sale talk

By Simon Aughton

Posted on 14 Feb 2007 at 10:13

Napster's appointment of a new director has rekindled talk that the online music service is seeking a buyer.

The new board member, Ross Levinsohn, is the former president of Fox Interactive Media, where he oversaw several acquisitions, including the hugely popular social networking website MySpace. It is the timing of his appointment, ahead of the company's AGM later this year, that has prompted suggestions that Napster is seeking to placate investors who are said to be impatient for a sale.

Napster spokeswoman Becky Farina denied that there was a 'cloak and dagger' reason for the appointment. But asked why the company did not wait until the AGM, as is usual, Farina said that Napster had an 'interest in bringing him in sooner rather than later'. She did not elaborate on what this interest might be.

That Napster has been investigating the potential for selling its music downloads and subscription services is no secret. Last September it hired investment bank UBS to examine its options.

Since then the company has cut its losses and announced several new partnerships that are expected to begin to reap dividends in the second half of 2007. But Mark Harding, an analyst with Maxim Group, believes these are just part of the process of making the company more attractive to potential suitors.

'I think they are trying to boost the valuation for a takeout,' he said.

Companies that may be interested in Napster, which despite its failure to impinge on Apple's dominance of the digital music market remains a strong brand, include Google, portable music player makers such as Samsung and Creative and mobile phone businesses.