Best Buy to acquire music-sharer Napster
Napster Inc., the online music community that rose from a dorm room
project to became the scourge of the global recording industry, is
being purchased by Best Buy Inc. for nearly $127 million as the
electronics retailer tries to boost its digital music business.
The
$2.65 per share all-cash deal announced Monday is nearly double the
music network's Friday closing price but a small sum to pay for Best
Buy, which gets access to Napster's 700,000 subscribers who pay a
monthly fee to access digital music catalogs.