Jay-Z’s Tidal preparing legal action against former owners

STOCKHOLM – A business controlled by rapper Jay-Z has notified the former owners of the Tidal music service of potential compensation claims, saying they overstated the number of subscribers before the sale.

Project Panther Bidco Ltd. bought Tidal’s Scandinavian parent company, Aspiro, for $56 million a year ago. But it now says it was misled about how many people subscribed to the service, suggesting the price tag was too high.

“The total number of subscribers was well below the 540,000 reported to us by the prior owners. As a result, we have now served legal notice to parties involved in the sale,” Tidal said in a statement.

The Norway-based Schibsted Media Group, the biggest of the previous owners, confirmed Friday it had received the letter, adding it disagrees with the accusations and any potential claims.

“Schibsted is of the opinion that the information given by the company Aspiro has been very thorough and open and communicated clearly,” it said.

Norwegian financial newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv posted the letter from Project Panther Bidco Ltd. on its website. It says “Panther has suffered significant damage” for which it reserves the right to claim compensation, though it doesn’t mention any figures.

Schibsted spokesman Anders Rikter confirmed the letter was authentic.

Tidal says it now has more than 3 million subscribers globally.