Napster exploring possible sale

Beleaguered subscription music company Napster said it is considering selling the company. “There’s been interest by third parties to acquire the company,” said Napster CEO Chris Gorog, adding that other proposals have included strategic partnerships or joint ventures. “That activity has heated up as we’ve gotten traction with a lot of our new products… There’s been a lot of speculation” about which companies or industries would be interested in Napster, Gorog said. “Any company that is executing at a high level in digital media will likely have at least a conceptual interest in looking at Napster.” Napster was originally an illegal music sharing site before being shut down in 2001. It was purchased by Roxio and relaunched in 2003. Napster said as of June 30, it had 512,000 paid subscribers, down from 606,000 in the prior quarter.