After speculation that Bill Simmons might depart Spotify when his contract expired early this year, the Sports Guy is officially sticking around.
According to a report from Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw, Simmons revealed on Wednesday that he and his sports and pop culture brand The Ringer will continue to partner with the Swedish audio giant Spotify. “I’ve been in enough work situations at this point that you just kinda know when you’re in the right spot,” Simmons said in a statement.
Simmons signed with Spotify in 2020 for a deal worth a reported $250 million. The Ringer was one of many splashy acquisitions Spotify made in the audio space around that time, including inking exclusive deals with hit podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience and Call Her Daddy.
Now, Simmons, The Ringer, and Spotify have begun to focus on expanding its video offerings on the platform. “I think all of us are motivated to do something pretty special in the talk and video space,” Simmons said.
Semafor first reported that Simmons was likely to re-up with Spotify earlier this year.
However, late last year, reports circulated that Simmons was unhappy with Spotify and engaged in “exploratory” discussions with other media outlets. Per Ryan Glasspiegel, then at the New York Post, Simmons “privately expressed frustration with confidants about Spotify’s corporate structure in which he has not had full personnel autonomy to bring all of the talents or shows that he wanted to add to the fold.”
Those concerns seem to have been smoothed over in recent months, with The Ringer recently acquiring several new talents including Todd McShay, Joel Anderson, David Jacoby and Kirk Goldsberry.
