STOCKHOLM, July 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Storytel AB
(publ) ("Storytel"), one of the world's leading audiobook and
e-book streaming services, is acquiring Kitab Sawti, a leading
audiobook streaming service in the Middle
East and the Arabic speaking world. The combined line-up of
Storytel Arabia and Kitab Sawti forms a unique offering of audio
content production and distribution that will give consumers access
to the biggest and richest Arabic audiobook library in the
world.
Kitab Sawti is one of the leading producers and audiobook
streaming services for Arabic content, operating a network of
studios across the Arabic region and organising over 100 narrators.
Founded in 2016 by Swedish entrepreneurs Sebastian Bond and Anton
Pollak, the company has rapidly become a respected and
popular advocate for quality audiobooks and cultural experiences in
the Arabic speaking world, and thus a strong competitor to Storytel
Arabia, which was launched in 2017.
"I am really thrilled and excited about the great opportunities
that the combination of Storytel and Kitab Sawti will offer Arabic
consumers, publishers and authorships. Online media consumption is
booming in the Middle East, as is
the confidence local consumers are showing in digital products and
payment solutions. The positive trend in customer interest for
audiobooks that we presently see in the region, clearly indicates
the big potential. And this potential is also reflected in the
leading combined skills and experiences of Storytel's and Kitab
Sawti's amazing local Arabic teams", says Jonas Tellander, CEO and founder of
Storytel.
Storytel is the #1 streaming service for audiobooks and e-books
in Northern Europe with over 1.2
million paying subscribers and operations on 20 markets. Storytel
also disposes over a vast library of more than 500,000 audiobook
and e-book titles on a global scale.
Kitab Sawti, which achieved an annual sales growth of 79% in the
first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year,
operates in the categories audiobooks, entertainment, edutainment,
audio content production and podcasts. The company disposes over a
strong catalogue of 2,500+ audiobook titles covering more than 80%
of the regional best-sellers including works like Celestial Bodies
by Jokha Alharthi, The Bamboo Stalk by Saud
Al Sanousi, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and A Brief History of Time by
Stephen Hawking. The combined
audiobook catalogues of Storytel Arabia and Kitab Sawti will thus
form a unique offering of 5,000+ audiobooks in Arabic - the biggest
and richest Arabic audiobook library in the world.
With this acquisition, Storytel establishes a new geographic
business region, Storytel MENA. Sebastian
Bond, co-founder and current CEO of Kitab Sawti, will lead
and oversee Storytel's business in MENA, which today consists of
the Storytel Arabia and Kitab Sawti operations.
"We are really proud of what Kitab Sawti and our amazing team
has achieved with our businesses in the Arabic region. I am
confident that Storytel, with its technical capabilities,
entrepreneurial spirit and multi-market experience, will be an
excellent owner and develop these businesses further. I am also
eager to experience the potential that will be unleashed as we
continue to fuel the passion of the consumers and the unique
qualities of the Arabic authorships, publishers and cultural life",
says Sebastian
Bond.
The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price which
will not have a substantial impact on the Storytel Group's
finances. The purchase price will be paid partly in cash and partly
through the issuance of shares in Storytel AB (publ). The closing
is expected to take place on 10 July
2020.
FNCA Sweden AB is the company's certified adviser. FNCA can
be reached at info@fnca.se or +46 8 528 00 399.
For more information, please
contact:
Storytel AB
Dan Panas, Head of Communications, Storytel
AB
Tel: +46-70-186-52-90
Email: dan.panas@storytel.com
Kitab Sawti
Sebastian
Bond, CEO and co-founder, Kitab Sawti
Tel: +971-58-578-4092
Email: sebastian@kitabsawti.com
About Storytel
Storytel is Northern Europe's
leading audiobook and e-book streaming service and offers unlimited
listening and reading of more than 500 000 titles on a global
scale. Our vision is to make the world a more empathetic place with
great stories to be shared and enjoyed by anyone, anywhere and
anytime. Storytel is a digital platform provider as well as a
comprehensive publishing group. The streaming business area offers
subscriptions for audiobooks and e-books under the Storytel and
Mofibo brands. Storytel's publishing business area is carried out
through the publishing houses Norstedts, Massolit, StorySide,
Printz Publishing, People's Press, Rabén & Sjögren,
B.Wahlströms, Gummerus Kustannus and Norstedts Kartor. Ztory - a
subscribed digital read-all-you-can streaming service for
newspapers and magazines, is part of Storytel since January 2019. Storytel operates in 20 markets
around the globe and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.
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