Best Buy buys Napster

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy is to acquire digital music shop Napster for an aggregate price of $121m.

The proposed acquisition includes Napster’s 700,000 digital subscribers, its web-based customer service platform, and its mobile operation, which counts O2 and AT&T among its customers.

“We believe Napster brings us excellent capabilities in the mobility space, as well as international operations and an established team of technology experts,” said Dave Morrish, executive vice president for Connected Digital Solutions at Best Buy. “We can foresee Napster acting as a platform for accelerating our growth in the emerging industry of digital entertainment, beyond music subscriptions.”

As well as TV and hi-fi’s, Best Buy already sells mobile handsets and recently struck a deal to distribute the Apple iPhone. Earlier this year the company struck a merger deal with UK-based mobile phone retailer the Carphone Warehouse, which sold 50 per cent of its European and US interests to the electronics shop.

Carphone, which made £1.1bn from the sale, is also going into business with Best Buy, expanding its won operations into the field of consumer electronics.