Who Owns Deezer, The Apple Music Streaming Alternative?

Deezer may not be a household name like Apple Music and Spotify are, but you can still call it a major player in the music streaming business. Launched in 2007 in Paris, France, by Daniel Marhely and Jonathan Benassaya, the service has expanded to 180 countries to become a truly global player in the sector. That success led to the company going public on the Euronext Paris stock exchange in the summer of 2022. So, following that pivotal change in its corporate structure, who owns Deezer now?

It's worth noting that Deezer is not owned by a single company, according to its investor website. Its largest shareholder is Access Industries, an investment group launched and controlled by billionaire Len Blavatnik. The group first invested in the music streaming company in 2012 and by the end of 2025 held about 36% of Deezer's shares, making it by some way the company's largest shareholder. Second behind Access Industries is the French telecom and communications giant Orange, with a 7.7% share of the company. Other significant shareholders in Deezer include Kingdom 5-KR-272 (5.1%), Rotana Audio Holding (also with 5.1%), Groupe Artemis (4.3%), and Warner Music Group  (4%). So, as is apparent from the numbers, despite Access Industries' substantial stake, no single shareholder holds a majority of Deezer, meaning the music streaming company doesn't have an outright controlling owner.

Deezer's ownership story is only part of the company's history. Indeed, its journey from a small French music streaming service to a global platform is an interesting one in its own right. For starters, it wasn't originally called Deezer. For a brief period early on, the service was known as Blogmusik. Daniel Marhely created Blogmusik in 2006, before entrepreneur Jonathan Benassaya joined him the following year. Blogmusik was subsequently shut down over an issue regarding music rights, but rather than abandon the project, Marhely and Benassaya decided to work together to transform it into a licensed music streaming service, relaunching it as Deezer in the summer of 2007 — a year before Spotify and eight years before Apple Music.

The new Deezer soon faced the challenge of growing from a French startup into a global business. To achieve this, it focused on partnerships alongside its own efforts to reach customers. So, rather than relying solely on users to sign up directly, Deezer struck deals with telecom operators and other businesses, helping it to reach people in markets where music streaming was still relatively new. The carefully considered approach helped Deezer to establish itself beyond its French roots while it competed against newcomers like Spotify and subsequent entrants. As its story shows, Deezer has seen it all, from the early days of unlicensed music services to the hugely competitive global streaming market. Looking ahead, it's now dealing with another major shift in the shape of AI and the changes it's bringing to how music is created and consumed.