VEVO FINDS THIRD PARTNER

Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment's YouTube-powered online premium music service will launch in December with a third partner, the United Arab Emirates-based Abu Dhabi Media Company.

The announcement was made today by UMG's Doug Morris, SME's Rolf Schmidt-Holtz and VEVO's Rio Caraeff along with ADMC Chairman Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazroui and CEO Edward Borgerding.

VEVO is now formed as an independent and fully funded entity with the three companies as founding shareholders.

"This global partnership flags Abu Dhabi Media Company’s commitment to establish a leading position in the digital media industry. It is part of an integrated approach to expanding the global digital presence and brand portfolio of Abu Dhabi Media Company, and it illustrates our partnering approach with innovators in digital media services and technologies,” said Al Mazroui on joining UMG and SME to create VEVO.

“It’s a credit to the music community, and to the global opportunity that VEVO represents, that we have been able to attract such a solid investment partner with the vision and track record of Abu Dhabi Media Company,” commented Caraeff. “Abu Dhabi Media Company brings to the venture important funding support and a team with enormous global media experience and insight, and we look forward to working with them to seize the many opportunities ahead of us.”

“VEVO fits our vision and goals perfectly, as we are expanding our capabilities and continue to build the market for digital entertainment around the world. VEVO will redefine the way premium music video entertainment is consumed, created and shared in a global community of music audiences,” said Borgerding.

“We're now entering a new exciting phase in the digital media industry in the region and we're determined to be at the forefront of it”, added ADMC Executive Director Ricky Ghai. “With VEVO there’s real opportunity for incredible growth, as both brand advertisers and consumers are looking for new premium video experiences online."

Abu Dhabi Media Company is one of the fastest growing, multi-platform media organizations in the region created in 2007 as a public joint stock company from the assets of Emirates Media Incorporated. They own and operate a range of television channels a network of radio stations, as well as number of publications and other media-related businesses, including Imagenation Abu Dhabi that will develop, finance and produce full-length feature films and digital content for Arabic and international markets; LIVE, which owns a fleet of outdoor HD broadcast vans; a state of the art printing press, United Printing Press, and a joint venture with Gazillion Entertainment to form the region’s first Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) Studio. Abu Dhabi Media Company employs 2098 people across its operating units which include publishing, television, radio, digital media, distribution, and printing. The company is headquartered in Abu Dhabi with offices in Cairo, Dubai and Washington D.C.