Days ago, we reported that Soundcloud received a $150 million investment from two investment groups, The Raine Group and Temasek Holdings. The valuation of the company would sit around $300 million after the investment; however, that investment still has to be approved. And SoundCloud’s older investors are worried.
A proposal has been sent to existing shareholders to accept or reject the investment by tomorrow, Friday. If accepted, the money would be injected into the company and it lives to fight another day. If rejected, then CEO Alexander Ljung suggests the company would not be able “to continue as a going concern,” reports Axios.
There is a very real chance that the proposal could be rejected as Raine Group and Temasek would receive “preferential treatment,” according to Digital Music News. DMN explains this as, “In the case of an eventual fire-sale or liquidation, Raine and Temasek would get to recover their funds first, along with any other investors participating in this ‘Series F’.”
Past investors, Series E investors, would have their liquidity preference slashed by over 40%, reports Axios.
So either previous investors choose to take the short end of the stick, and keep the company afloat, or they reject the offer and the site goes down.
However, there’s another factor in play that complicates things even further. ReCode reports that, even if the the deal is approved, Alex Ljung will be replaced as CEO by former Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor. (Ljung will still stay on as chair of the company’s board.) Trainor would also bring in a new chief operating officer.
All of these factors present a dizzying web of possibilities and concerns for all parties involved, a decision which will be made clear at some point during the day on Friday.