Motorola buys Soundbuzz

Singapore - Motorola has inked an agreement to acquire privately-held pan-Asian music provider Soundbuzz, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

Soundbuzz, whose multi-region music delivery platform enables purchase and distribution of digital content over-the-air and through wired broadband connections, has a music library encompassing songs licensed from Sony BMG, EMI, Warner Music International, Universal Music Group as well as over 45 independent record labels spanning over Asia, U.S. and Europe - allowing Motorola to expand its mobile music service Motomusic into India, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.

"Motorola's dedication to enhancing the digital music experience in Asia complements our own objectives and makes it the ideal partner. This combination will help us extend our platform and create exciting growth opportunities for Soundbuzz's employees and our partner music labels. Further, our customers will benefit from the technological advancements that we expect to deliver as part of a global leader in mobile communications," Soundbuzz CEO Sudhanshu Sarronwala said.

Motorola plans to maintain Soundbuzz's Singapore headquarters as part of Motorola's digital music development strategy in Asia. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.