Music video app Musical.ly and sister app Live.ly has been sold to Chinese media giant Bytedance. The deal is worth between $800 million and $1 billion, according to multiple sources. A division of Bytedance aquired Musical.ly rival Filpagram earlier this year.
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Hugely popular music video lip sync platform Musical.ly and its live streaming app Live.ly has been acquired by Chinese media conglomerate Bytedance for a reported $800,000 – $1 billion.
Musical.ly was founded in 2104 in Shanghai by Louis Yang and Alex Zhu, and claims by more than 100 million active users. The Musical.ly founders and team will join Bytedance and continue to run the platform.
“Musical.ly will continue to operate as an independent platform, integrating Bytedance’s global leading AI technology and leveraging its reach in China and key markets across Asia to enhance Musical.ly’s offering to users, creators, and partners,” the two companies said in a statement.
“Integrating Musical.ly’s global reach with Bytedance’s massive user base in China and key Asian markets, we are creating a significant global platform for our content creators and brands to engage with new markets,” said Zhang Yiming, Bytedance CEO.
Some Musical.ly stats:
- Average daily video views: 1 billion
- Average daily video creations: 7.4 million
- Average daily likes: 249 million
- Average active user watches over 60 videos a day