Temasek, Raine, close to buying stake in music-streaming service SoundCloud

LOS ANGELES — SoundCloud Ltd is close to selling stakes to the Raine Group and Temasek Holdings, deals that would help stabilise the owner of the popular music-streaming service, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal with Raine, a boutique bank that invested in Vice Media Inc and advised Softbank Group Corp on its acquisition of Sprint Corp., could close by the end of this week, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private negotiations. Temasek is Singapore’s state investment firm.

Terms of the deals weren’t immediately available. Bloomberg reported late last week that SoundCloud was in talks to sell stakes to two firms. Billboard reported the Raine Group’s talks with SoundCloud earlier Tuesday (Aug 2).

Beloved by musicians and young music fans, SoundCloud has attracted more than 175 million users with rough cuts from famous artists and mixes from unknown DJs. Yet SoundCloud, founded in Stockholm and now based in Berlin, has failed to generate much money from those users.

The company has explored selling itself, and has been talking to several parties about raising money to sustain operations. SoundCloud laid off 40 per cent of its staff earlier this month, and closed offices in San Francisco and London. BLOOMBERG