The worst kept secret of 2014 is now official – online radio aggregator Radionomy has indeed purchased Winamp and Shoutcast from AOL. Although specifics weren’t mentioned, a reliable source recently told TechCrunch that Radionomy paid between $5 million and $10 million while AOL also reportedly took a 12 percent stake in the company.
That has to sting when you consider AOL paid around $80 million for Nullsoft, the former owner of the two properties, back during their meteoric rise in 1999. And the stake that AOL has taken in Radionomy is strictly financial, sources told the publication.
It’s good news for Radionomy, however, as adding the two properties will make them one of the biggest players in the online radio business. At present, the company hosts around half of the online radio stations in existence – around 60,000 we’re told (much higher than the previous 6,000 we were led to believe).
Moving forward, Winamp will continue to be offered just as it is today but will now have access to all of those radio stations. What’s more, it’ll be able to play 60 different audio and video formats and feature 6,000 add-ons which includes skins and plug-ins. Oh, and it’ll be offered in 16 different languages.
Radionomy founder and CEO Alexandre Saboundjian said they want to rebuild the story for Winamp and think the future can be great because the strategy is not just for desktop but also mobile, automobiles and so much more.
