Storytel is acquiring the digital subscription service Ztorylabs AB (“Ztory”) and its extensive all-you-can-read offering of magazines and newspapers. The deal will broaden Storytel’s product line and amplify the company’s position as the leading provider of digital-book experiences. Through its operational and wholly owned subsidiary Storytel Sweden AB, Storytel AB (publ) (“Storytel”) has now purchased and acquired 100% of Ztory’s shares as of January 31st, 2019.
Founded in 2013 by Nima Samimi, Staffan Svantesson, Daniel Malmqvist, and Martin Samami, Ztory is a digital all-you-can-read subscription service which primarily offers newspapers and magazines, as well as children’s books in a user-friendly format. Its monthly 99 SEK subscription fee gives customers unlimited access to Ztory’s content.
“I’ve met with Nima and the team at Ztory on and off during the past few years, and have been profoundly impressed by their impressive knowledge and passionate commitment to develop the user experience. It feels completely logical and natural to broaden Storytel’s market-leading service and extensive content offering with Ztory’s strong line-up with exciting and loved magazine brands and alert newspapers –– it’s an obvious way to complement our strong footprint in audio books listening,” says Storytel’s CEO Jonas Tellander.
Ztory’s current CEO Daniel Malmqvist, will continue to be employed by the Storytel Group and lead the development of Ztory after the acquisition. In order to ensure a smooth transition and integration with Storytel, founder Nima Samimi and former CTO Martin Samimi will assume positions as contracted consultants.
“Ever since Storytel’s foundation, we’ve been emtremely spurred and inspired by the impressive and innovative journey Jonas and Storytel have made. That adds an extra dimension to my excitement about this deal where Ztory will contribute to further strengthen Storytel’s position as the leading digital service for reading-and-listening experiences on the market. It also feels important to give quality journalism a new strong platform by making Ztory’s rich offering of popular dailies and magazines digitally available to Storytel’s hundreds of thousands of paying subscribers,” says Ztory founder Nima Samimi.
During the latest audited business year, Ztory had a turnover of 5.4 MSEK, with a net loss after financial items of approximately 3 MSEK. Its primary owners have been founder Nima Samimi,
Daniel Malmqvist, Wingefors Venture AB, and Almi Invest Norra Mellansverige AB; a total of thirteen owners have sold their holdings. The parties involved have agreed not to disclose the purchasing price –– which will not have a substantial impact on the Storytel Group’s finances, and which has been transacted in the form of a cash payment for shares purchased.
For more information, please contact:
Jonas Tellander (+46 70 261 6136)
Nima Samimi (+46 73 506 5629)
FNCA Sweden AB is Storytel’s certified advisor. FNCA can be reached at info@fnca.se or +46 8 528 00 399
About Storytel
The Storytel group consists of two divisions, Streaming and Publishing. The Streaming division currently offers a subscription service for audio books and e-books under the brand names Storytel and Mofibo in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, India, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Italy, Mexico and Bulgaria. The Streaming division also publishes audio books and Storytel Originals, mainly through the audio-book publisher Storyside. The Publishing division consists of the publishers Norstedts, Massolit, Printz Publishing, the Danish People’s Press, Storytel Publishing, Rabén & Sjögren and B. Wahlströms, as well as Norstedts Kartor