Roxio to buy Napster assets

For the record

By Drew Cullen • Get more from this author

Posted in e-Business, 15th November 2002 12:52 GMT

Free whitepaper – Dell PowerEdge servers product guide

Roxio is to buy the assets of Napster, the dead P2P music-swapping firm. In other word's it's not taking on liabilities or Napster's litany of legal battles with the music major. The deal is subject to approval from the bankruptcy court and, presumably, to legal challenges from creditors and, err, lawsuitors.

Roxio is offering $5m in cash and warrants to buy 100,000 shares worth another $300k, rather less than the $8m offered by Bertelsmann a few months ago. The Delaware bankruptcy court rejected the offer, agreeing with the fierce resistance from the creditors/lawsuitors.

So what's in it for Roxio, best known for CD burning software? Well, the Easy CD creator, is, it tells us, "the Digital Media company®". And it has a "strategic vision of how Napster will expand Roxio's role in the digital media landscape and enhance our offerings to consumers".

In September, porn giant Private Media made a $2.4m stock offer for the Napster name.
Sounds like Napster as paid-for download distribution mechanism for burned CDs. But we're jumping the gun -
all will be revealed after the deal closes (expected November 27). ®

Roxio press release