Tesco in free-to-listen net radio buy

Tesco has bought a digital music firm backed by the singer Peter Gabriel that provides a free-to-listen, personalised radio service on the internet for £10.8m.

The supermarket chain has acquired 91 per cent of WE7 but plans to buy the remainder of the start-up's shares over the coming weeks. WE7, which makes its money from advertising in a similar way to Spotify, says its software platform's service is "like having a personal DJ, creating free, personalised radio stations that only play the music you love" from its library of 11m songs.

WE7 was founded in 2006 by John Taysom, who brought in executives Gareth Reakes, Steve Purdham and Mr Gabriel as founder investors in 2007.