Believe (Public Markdown)
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
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Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Believe was a French digital music company founded in 2005 by Denis Ladegaillerie. It built a digital distribution and artist-development platform for independent labels and artists, offering disruptive distribution and development models as the music industry moved to streaming. From €2 million in revenue in its early days, it grew to nearly a billion, listed on the Paris stock exchange in June 2021, and employed around 600 people. In February 2024 a consortium of Ladegaillerie, US investment firm TCV and Swedish private equity group EQT offered €15 per share to take the company private, valuing it at about €1.52 billion; the block acquisition of 71.92% closed in April 2024 and was followed by a public tender offer.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded in Paris
Denis Ladegaillerie founded Believe in Paris as a digital music distributor for independent artists and labels.
- Paris IPO
Believe listed on the Paris stock exchange in June 2021, growing from €2 million to nearly a billion in revenue since its founding.
- Taken private
On February 12, 2024 a consortium of founder/CEO Denis Ladegaillerie, TCV and EQT offered €15 per share (~€1.52 billion) to take Believe private; the block acquisition of 71.92% of the capital closed in April 2024, followed by a public tender offer for the remaining shares.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.