Online retailer Amazon on Monday announced it is acquiring online comedy service Rooftop Media for an undisclosed price.
According to reports, the deal will see the San Francisco-based company joining the Internet retailer’s audio books service, Audible, which it bought in 2008 for $300 million. Audible agreed to acquire the 10-person startup in September to add to its comedy offerings.
Rooftop Media, records comedy performances and licenses the content for live or on-demand streaming. Apple Inc and Yahoo are some of the company’s prominent media partners. In addition, Rooftop also works with streaming services including iTunes, Pandora, SiriusXM, Spotify, AOL and Amazon.
“Audible Studios has been conceiving and producing original content in mystery, science fiction and other genres for years, and these creative efforts have been embraced by our millions of customers globally,” said Audible founder and CEO Donald Katz.
“With Rooftop’s rich comedic offerings and vast pool of comedy talent, we foresee an even more exciting selection of original spoken-word entertainment at Audible in the months and years to come.”
Rooftop CEO Will Rogers said “Audible’s commitment to expanding its content offerings on behalf of its customers represents a tremendous new audience for Rooftop talent as we work to create new content together over time.”
The acquisition news comes just days after Amazon reported third-quarter net loss of 95 cents per share.
