Nordic telecommunications group TeliaSonera said Wednesday it was investing 115 million dollars into streaming music service Spotify as part of a strategic partnership. TeliaSonera was to get a 1.4-per-cent stake in the digital music provider, suggesting it is worth an estimated 8.2 billion dollars.
The two firms have co-operated for the past five years. Spotify board chairman and co-founder Martin Lorentzon has been a member of TeliaSonera's board since 2013. He did not take part in the discussions related to TeliaSonera's partnership, a statement said.
Founded in 2006, Spotify has about 60 million users. Spotify and TeliaSonera said they were both to commit staff and cooperate on media distribution, customer insights, data analytics and advertising.
Earlier this week, Apple unveiled its first streaming service, set to be available from the end of June and aimed at presenting a challenge to services from the likes of Spotify. TeliaSonera was formed by the merger in 2002 of Sweden's Telia and Finland's Sonera.