Spotify To Acquire Podcast Hosting Company Megaphone For $235M

Spotify Technology SPOT shares were trading lower Tuesday after the company announced it will acquire Megaphone for $235 million.

In recent years, Spotify has beefed up its podcast streaming library.

Earlier this year, Joe Rogan announced he would take his popular "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast exclusively to Spotify starting Sept. 1.

The Megaphone acquisition follows Spotify's launch of Streaming Ad Insertion podcast ad technology.

Megaphone is a podcast advertising and publishing platform, and through the acquisition, the companies said they'll make Streaming Ad Insertion available to third-party podcast publishers.

The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

"We are still in the early chapters of the streaming audio industry story, but it is absolutely clear that the potential is significant," Dawn Ostroff, chief content and advertising business officer at Spotify, said in a statement. 

"We look forward to Megaphone joining Spotify on our mission to accelerate smarter podcast monetization for advertisers and podcast publishers powered by a scaled audience and state-of-the-art technology."

SPOT Price Action: Spotify Technology shares were trading down 5.61% at $258.72 at last check Tuesday.