Amazon acquires the Wondery podcast platform

Amazon announced on Wednesday that it had signed an agreement to buy the independent podcast platform Wondery, without however revealing the terms, an additional movement in a sector in full consolidation, and which strengthens the offer of the audio platform of the retail giant in line.

Read also: By investing in the podcast, Amazon is adding a string to its media arc

Wondery, which produces the podcasts "Dirty John" - which tells the real life of a criminal con artist and was adapted on Netflix - but also "Dr.

Death ”and“ Death of a Starlet ”, will be integrated with Amazon Music, which wants to compete with its competitors like Spotify and this year began to offer podcasts in addition to music.

said the Amazon music team in a blog post.

they added.

$ 300 million

The amount of the buyback was not disclosed, but according to articles published earlier this month Wondery was asking for $ 300 million.

The deal, which has yet to be finalized, will allow Amazon Music subscribers to listen to Wondery podcasts through various providers, Amazon said in a statement.

The announcement comes as Amazon faces increased scrutiny from antitrust authorities for its growing dominance over key sectors of the economy as it expands into retail and streaming.

Founded in 2016, Wondery was ranked fourth podcast publisher in the United States in November by the Podtrac site, with just over 9 million listeners.

It is the last major independent podcast platform in the United States, the sector having seen many acquisitions in recent months.

In July, the US online radio giant SiriusXM bought the podcast platform Stitcher for a record amount of $ 325 million.

Spotify, now the world market leader, bought Gimlet in early 2019 for $ 230 million and The Ringer in February for $ 141 to $ 195 million.