Anghami Officially Closes OSN+ Deal, Teases ‘Soon To Be Announced Best-in-Class Products’

Anghami and OSN+ have officially received regulatory approval to form an “entertainment powerhouse.” Photo Credit: Anghami

Back in November, MENA video-streaming service OSN+ and music platform Anghami revealed plans to combine into “a comprehensive media ecosystem.” Now, the deal has officially wrapped.Abu Dhabi-headquartered Anghami (NASDAQ: ANGH) and OSN+, a division of the namesake Dubai-based satellite TV business, confirmed their tie-up’s closure via a formal release today. As we reported four months ago, the underlying agreement involved OSN’s becoming a majority Anghami stakeholder – injecting as much as $50 million into the company at nearly $3.70 per share.

That price represents a material premium to Anghami’s current per-share worth ($1.67) and particularly the sub-$1 value each of its shares hit last year. Among other things, the latter brought with it a delisting warning from NASDAQ.

ANGH has largely held its ground above the $1 mark to this point in 2024; in late March, Saudi Arabia’s MBC acquired approximately 14 percent of Anghami. Nevertheless, the stock’s mentioned per-share value reflects a roughly 15 percent decrease from yesterday’s close.

Moving beyond these stock-price specifics and returning to the Anghami-OSN+ union, the transaction has received “all regulatory approvals,” the involved companies communicated. OSN now possesses a 55.45 percent interest in Anghami, and once the music service and the video platform actually combine, they’ll boast north of 120 million cumulative users, including somewhere around 2.5 million subscribers, execs emphasized.

Regarding Anghami’s usership contribution, we covered the company’s financials and subscribers in January. On the other side of the equation, OSN+ streams regional television and films as well as international programming from HBO, Paramount, and more, per its website.

As disclosed in November, Anghami co-founder and CTO Elie Habib is leading the post-merger entity, with Joe Kawkabani remaining CEO of OSN. (It’s unclear exactly where longtime Anghami head Eddy Maroun fits into the revamped business, but the exec is billing himself as a co-founder of the fresh Anghami iteration and touted the combination news on LinkedIn this morning.)

Looking ahead to the remainder of 2024, besides noting the approaching availability of a one-stop MENA entertainment offering, higher-ups touched on forthcoming “AI-driven hyper-personalization” technology and “soon to be announced best-in-class products.”

Particularly with MENA’s music market continuing to expand rapidly – albeit at a slower pace in 2023 than in 2022, per the IFPI – it’ll be worth closely monitoring the results turned in by Anghami and OSN+ moving forward. The operation’s aforesaid support from Saudi Arabia is also significant on this front, as is the majors’ growing MENA presence.

For instance, Sony Music, which has for years run a JV label called Vibe Music Arabia with Anghami, debuted a MENA publishing unit in mid-February, tapping a former Anghami exec to lead the unit. Moreover, Anghami last month inked an expanded deal with Rotana Music, part of which belongs to Warner Music.