Warner Music Files for Listing -- WSJ
February 07 2020 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Anne Steele
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (February 7, 2020).
Access Industries Inc.'s Warner Music Group Corp. filed
documents to sell shares to the public amid a streaming-fueled
resurgence in the music industry.
The third-largest music company's decision to pursue an IPO
comes after Vivendi SA sold a 10% stake in Universal Music Group to
Tencent Holdings Ltd. for EUR3 billion ($3.36 billion), valuing the
world's largest music company at over $33 billion.
Access, owned by billionaire Len Blavatnik, is to retain voting
control of Warner Music, according to the company's filing Thursday
with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Russian-born business magnate bought Warner Music Group in
2011 for $3.3 billion. It was previously controlled by a trio of
private-equity firms -- Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital
Partners and Providence Equity Partners -- together with the
company's then-chief executive, Edgar Bronfman Jr., who bought the
company from what was then Time Warner Inc. in 2004 for $2.6
billion.
Warner Music's labels include Elektra Records, Atlantic Records
and its flagship Warner Records. It also owns Warner Chappell
Music, the third-largest music publisher. Its roster of artists
includes Ed Sheeran, Lizzo, Madonna, Metallica and Neil Young.
The fortunes of record companies -- Warner and Universal
together with Sony Corp.'s Sony Music Entertainment round out the
"big three" with control of some 80% of the market -- have been
resuscitated in recent years thanks the rise of music-streaming
services such as Spotify Technology SA and Apple Inc.'s Apple
Music. While revenue from recorded music remains below its
CD-fueled peak in 2000, it has been on the rise since 2016
following more than a decade of declines due to piracy.
In 2018, the last full year of available data, world-wide
recorded music revenue totaled $19.1 billion. Goldman Sachs
estimates the market will hit $45 billion by 2030, primarily on the
strength of subscriptions to streaming services.
Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 07, 2020 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
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