In August, Williams published a piece in Time Magazine that accompanied a cover spread on " The New American Revolution." It coincided with his release of "Entrepreneur," the song and music video he produced with Jay-Z as a tribute to Black founders across the nation. "We think it's high time that we own more companies. They deserve to be in lights," Williams said. Williams was inspired to pool talent from historically Black colleges and universities and build a new pipeline of investment and resources to young people. "Because we don't have enough of the market share, our kids end up having issues with disproportionate access to healthcare, disproportionate access to education and as a culture, we have disproportionate access as it pertains to legislation and representation," Williams said in a video announcing the news. Finalists will be connected with and mentored by a network venture capitalists and angel investors. Another nine teams will get smaller prizes. The second competition, called the Black Ambition Prize, will give $1 million in seed money to an early-stage company focused on tech, design, healthcare or consumer products and services. Smaller prizes will be awarded to at least nine additional teams. The first competition will award up to $250,000 to current students or recent alumni from a historically Black college developing or in the seed stage of a company. Silicon Valley startup investor Ron Conway and Buzzfeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti also contributed. The effort backed by Adidas, Chanel and philanthropic organizations including The Rockefeller Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation. Now, Williams is launching an incubator to put money behind his message.Ĭalled Black Ambition, the nonprofit aims to invest in Black and Latino startup founders, and it's beginning by creating two prize competitions set to close in July 2021. Rapper and producer Pharrell Williams released "Entrepreneur" with Jay-Z earlier this summer, a song that became an anthem for Black ambition. Pharrell Williams Launches Black Ambition Incubator Pharrell Launches Black Ambition Incubator The talks are reportedly ongoing and no deal has been confirmed. Combining that content with its Alexa smart speaker also could empower the company to capture more eyes and ears in the increasingly competitive attention economy. Amazon Music is one of Spotify's biggest competitors along with Apple Music, and recently expanded into podcasts as well.Īcquiring Wondery would give Amazon more content to slide into Amazon Music, a scaled-down version of which is free for Amazon Prime subscribers. That growth has spurred somewhat of an arms race, most evident in Spotify's spending spree, which also has helped that company diversify from its reliance on streaming. The Interactive Advertising Bureau projects podcasting revenues to exceed $1 billion by 2021. Podcasting overall now attracts over 100 million monthly listeners, according to Edison Research. Its Q3 revenue was about double year-on-year and its Q4 performance has been strong, Lopez previously told dot.LA. Wondery, the West Hollywood-based company with the largest audience of any independent podcast producer, has been the subject of swirling rumors that several suitors are interested in acquiring it.Īfter a pandemic-induced decline that struck much of the podcasting industry, Wondery's audience has surpassed its pre-COVID levels. It also launched a subscription service, Wondery Plus, in June and is currently looking to expand its international footprint. About three-quarters of Wondery's revenue comes from advertising, but Lopez has said the company's revenue share from content licensing is growing (Wondery owns the intellectual property for all of its originals). The company does not publicly disclose its financials, but chief executive Hernan Lopez has previously said the company is profitable. Death" and "Business Wars," and has 19 shows currently in development to become television series. Wondery has produced dozens of original series including "Dr. The talks reportedly value Wondery above $300 million, in line with previous estimates from analysts, when Apple and Sony were said to have expressed interest. Hernan Lopez started Wondery with the belief that in-depth, narrative audio stories were poised to bloom.Īmazon is in "exclusive talks" to buy podcast company Wondery and subsume its 30 hit shows and over 8 million monthly listeners into its empire, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Amazon Reportedly in Exclusive Talks to Buy Wondery
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