The acquisition is expected to strongly reinforce Vivendi's digital efforts in the strategic areas of on-line music, subscriptions, branding, technology and all its content. It already owns Universal Music Group and Universal Studios.
The acquisition also sees another high-profile music dot.com lose its independence. Napster previously struck a similar deal with Germany’s Bertelsmann.
MP3.com, which claims to have 40 million users, will continue to feature content from all major record labels and from independent artists. Vivendi will also use MP3.com to provide the technology for Duet, Vivendi’s joint venture with Sony Music to create an on-line digital music subscription service. Duet is expected to launch this summer.