Consumer electronics giant Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is reportedly on the verge of buying Shazam, the makers of an app that killed the music pub quiz.
News web site Techcrunch reported that the two parties are in negotiations and a deal could be signed this week.
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Techcrunch’s sources said the acquisition price is a nine-figure sum, with one source putting it at around £300mln (US$400mln).
In Shazam’s previous fund-raising round, it issued shares at a price that implied a market valuation for the UK company of US$1.02bn.
The Shazam service was launched in 1999, pre-dating the smartphone era. The app is remarkably successful at identifying songs from just snippets of music.
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The app integrates with other music-related apps such as Spotify, Google Play Music and Apple Music.
According to TechCrunch, Shazam made a pre-tax loss of £4mln in fiscal 2016 on revenue of £40.3mln.