Jay Z and friends’ TIDAL launch party sends Aspiro stock through the roof

By Victor Beigelman | April 2, 2015 | 8:21pm

Aux Features Music

Looks like a bunch of people got desperate when Jay Z went ahead and launched his new streaming service without inviting them. Shares of the Swedish company Aspiro, which Jay Z bought for $56 million earlier this year, shot up 938 percent after the star-studded TIDAL launch event earlier this week. Look, we get it. All of the most famous people in music, from Alicia Keys to Kanye West, Win Butler to Madonna, get together to throw their heads back in laughter while egregiously expensive champagne spills from their glasses. Celebrating the launch of Aspiro’s TIDAL—a high-end streaming service they all co-own that’s sure to make them even richer—sounds like a hell of time. Who wouldn’t be jealous?

The problem is, for those who were too green with envy to control themselves, buying Aspiro stock when they did will result in losses of up to 90 percent. That’s because there’s a looming squeeze-out of the shares left after Jay Z’s substantial check cleared. Project Panther Bidco, the company that made the deal on HOVA’s behalf, will buy the remaining shares—currently at 11 crowns—at 1.05 crowns each, subsequently delisting Aspiro from the Stockholm stock exchange. See what happens when you bang on the door to a party you’re not welcome to? Next time they’d be wise to join the rest of us shlubs as we all stare longingly through the window in the pouring rain.