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Sunday, July 5, 
12:44 am

UMG confirms Buzznet investment

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Universal Music Group has confirmed that it has taken a stake in social networking music site Buzznet Inc., three months after we first reported the deal. UMG's Interscope division isn't mentioned in the companies' joint statement, although prior reports indicated that the investment came directly from Interscope rather than the parent company.

The companies did not disclose the size of the round, but paidContent has reported it at roughly $25 million. A Buzznet spokesperson confirmed that existing investors Redpoint Ventures, Anthem Venture Partners and various angels including Jeff Clavier did not exit the startup and continue to hold stakes. They've invested $7.5 million in two prior installments.

Buzznet has been making moves lately, acquiring two of the most highly trafficked music blogs on the Web in Stereogum and Idolator, the latter among several divestitures by Gawker Media. No dollar amount was pinned to the Idolator deal, but Stereogum was rumored to be worth about $5 million.

Buzznet says it isn't trying to assemble a large blog network, but an e-mail has surfaced indicating that it's also been kicking other tires. In another recent deal, Buzznet last month reportedly acquired Steve Case-backed music application developer Qloud last month. -- Paul Bonanos

See April 17 press release from UMG and Buzznet
See Jan. 14 post on Buzznet from Tech Confidential
See March 31 posts from PaidContent.org and Mashable

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