From Ahmet and Neshui Ertegun to Len Blavatnik, a Brief History of the Venerable Music Group
1947: Ahmet and
Nesuhi Ertegun and
Jerry Wexler incorporate
Atlantic Records, releasing records by blues singers
Ruth Brown,
Tiny Grimes and
Slick McGhee & His Buddies, including the classic “Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-o-Dee.”
1950: Jac Holzman founds
Elektra Records with friend
Paul Rickolt on $300 from Holzman’s bar mitzvah money. They put out Appalachian balladeer
Jean Ritchie’s
Sings Songs of Her Kentucky Mountain Family, along with records by folkies
Theodore Bikel (also an initial investor),
Josh White,
Glenn Yarbrough,
Oscar Brand,
Judy Collins,
Phil Ochs,
Woody Guthrie and
Tom Paxton.
1958: Warner Bros. Records organized under ex-
Capitol Records exec
Jim Conkling. Its first signing is teen idol
Tab Hunter and its initial album releases include
Dragnet star
Jack Webb,
Connie Stevens, the
Warner Bros. Military Band and one
Ira Ironstrings’
Music for People with $3.98, Plus Tax, If Any.
1960: WB has its first #1 single with the
Everly Brothers’ “Cathy’s Clown,” and its first chart-topping album,
The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart.
Mike Maitland is named President of
WB Records when Conkling is forced out. Maitland hires Boston DJ
Joe Smith as head of national promotion.
1961: Mo Ostin founds
Reprise as
Frank Sinatra’s WB-distribbed label after singer leaves
Capitol. Label releases Sinatra’s
Ring-a-Ding-Ding and albums by
Sammy Davis Jr. and “Pepino the Italian Mouse” creator
Lou Monte.
1962: Satirist
Allan Sherman’s chart-topping
My Son the Folksinger album spurs a grassroots pop fad.
1963: WB Records and
Reprise merge under Maitland.
1965-66: Hit records by
Dean Martin,
the Kinks,
Petula Clark,
The Electric Prunes,
Don Ho,
Nancy Sinatra and
the Association.
1967: Warner Bros. bought by
Seven Arts, becomes
Warner-Seven Arts, which acquires
Atlantic Records, with artists such as
Solomon Burke,
Wilson Pickett,
Otis Redding,
Percy Sledge, the
Young Rascals,
the Troggs,
Eddie Floyd,
Sam & Dave,
Bobby Darin,
Aretha Franklin, the
Bee Gees,
Buffalo Springfield,
Cream,
Booker T and the MGs and the
Bar-Kays.
1969: Kinney National Co.’s
Steve Ross acquires
Warner-Seven Arts, adds it to his empire of funeral parlors and parking lots.
Warner Bros. puts out the
Grateful Dead’s
Aoxomoxa,
Joni Mitchell’s
Clouds, Sinatra’s “My Way” and
Alice Cooper’s
Pretties for You. WB opens
London offices with
Ian Ralfini its Managing Director/President.
Atlantic does likewise, hiring
Phil Carson, who promptly brings in the Virgin label.
Atlantic releases first
Led Zeppelin album.
1970: Elektra becomes part of Kinney for $10 million, bringing
The Doors,
Bread,
MC5,
Nico and
The Stooges.
Mo Ostin replaces
Mike Maitland as head of
WB/
Reprise Records with
Joe Smith his #2.
1971: Kinney mutates into
Warner Communications.
Nesuhi Ertegun founds
WEA International. WEA Corp. distribution established. Records by
Crosby, Still & Nash and
Derek & the Dominoes (
Atlantic);
Black Sabbath,
Deep Purple,
Van Morrison and
James Taylor (WB); and
Fleetwood Mac,
Jimi Hendrix,
Neil Young and
Frank Zappa (Reprise). Atlantic inks the Rolling Stones, release
Sticky Fingers on their own label.
1973: Lenny Waronker is named a VP at
WB after producing hit records for
Gordon Lightfoot,
Maria Muldaur,
Randy Newman and
Ry Cooder.
Elektra combines with
David Geffen’s
Asylum under
Geffen, who signs
Bob Dylan, names
Mel Posner President of combined labels.
1975: Geffen leaves
Elektra/
Asylum to make movies.
Joe Smith named Chairman of EA, with Ostin taking over as Chairman and President of WB.
1976: Seymour Stein’s formerly
ABC-distributed
Sire Records becomes part of
WB, releases
The Ramones’ first album.
1977: Fleetwood Mac’s
Rumours,
on Reprise, becomes the sixth-largest selling album of all time, with 19 million in the
U.S. to date. WB releases
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here Comes the Sex Pistols.
1978: Employee count at
Warner Music Group is more than 2,000. Record group revenues reach an all-time high of $617 million worldwide.
1979: Atlantic has
ABBA,
Chic,
Foreigner and
Yes;
Elektra has
Queen,
The Cars,
Jackson Browne,
Linda Ronstadt,
Warren Zevon and the
Pointer Sisters;
Warners’
Devo,
Rod Stewart and
Van Halen,
Reprise’s
Neil Young and
Sire’s
Talking Heads.
1980: Stein sells remaining 50% of
Sire to
WB.
David Geffen starts
Geffen Records as “Warner Communications’ fourth record company,” inks
Donna Summer,
John and
Yoko and
Elton John.
1981: MTV launches as a joint venture between
Warner Communications Inc. and
American Express.
1982: Atari video game success lifts
WCI stock up 30 times over six years earlier. Albums include
Prince’s
1999 and
Van Halen’s
Diver Down.
1983: Elektra is moved from
L.A. to N.Y., with
Bob Krasnow and
Bruce Lundvall in charge.
WCI profits from “Recorded Music and Music Publishing” listed at $60 million. WCI sells its two-thirds interest in
MTV Networks and stake in
Showtime/
The Movie Channel to
Viacom International for $500 million.
1984: Madonna’s
Like a Virgin,
Van Halen’s
1984 released.
1986: WEA Manufacturing opens CD plant.
Paul Simon’s
Graceland,
Van Halen’s
5150 on
WB;
Peter Gabriel’s
So on
Geffen.
1987: WCI acquires
Chappell & Co., becoming world’s largest music publisher, for $285 million, adding 400,000 copyrights to its 300,000.
1988: Robert J. Morgado’s duties expand to domestic labels.
Geffen sells
Geffen Records to
MCA for $545 million in company stock.
1989: Doug Morris is upped from President of
Atlantic Records to COO.
Jimmy Iovine and
Ted Field’s
Interscope Records launches, with
Atlantic providing $15 million for a 25% ownership, later to climb to 50%. Hit records include
Debbie Gibson (
Atlantic),
Tracy Chapman,
the Cure and
Deee-Lite (
Elektra),
Elvis Costello (
WB),
The B-52s and
Chris Isaak (
Reprise) and
Aerosmith,
Don Henley and
Whitesnake (
Geffen).
1990: Time Inc. merges with
WCI.
PolyGram buys
Island from
Chris Blackwell for $300 million. Morris is named Co-Chairman/Co-CEO of
Atlantic.
1991: Irving Azoff brings
Giant Records into the
WB Records fold.
Reprise splits off from
WB, with
Rich Fitzgerald named VP/Director of Promotion.
1992: Time Warner and
Madonna announce a 50/50 joint venture,
Maverick Records. The deal includes a $5 million advance for every album by the superstar and a 20% royalty rate. “Cop Killer,” a song on
Ice-T’s
Body Count album on
Sire, results in protests at TW’s annual stockholders meeting, which forces the company to drop the rapper. New Media chief
Stan Cornyn retires.
Time Warner boss
Steve Ross passes away on Dec. 20;
Gerald Levin is the new Chairman/CEO for
Time Warner, while Morgado is named Chairman/CEO for then-
Warner Music-
U.S. label group.
1993: Dave Mount is named President of
WEA, replacing
Henry Droz;
Warner Music income goes to $643 million.
Atlantic inks the
Select,
Mammoth and
Matador labels.
1994:
Doug Morris is named Chairman/CEO of
Warner Music-U.S. by
Morgado, taps
Val Azzoli as new President of
Atlantic. Morris proceeds to have
Krasnow succeeded at
Elektra tapping
EastWest head
Sylvia Rhone as Co-President with
Seymour Stein.
Mo Ostin announces he’ll leave
WB Records when his contract expires at year-end, with
Lenny Waronker as CEO, though the latter decides to follow Mo out the door in October. Morgado hand-picks
Warner Music U.K.’s
Rob Dickins to replace Waronker at WB, but bows to Morris’ decision to name
Danny Goldberg Chairman/CEO instead after a near-revolt by the label heads gathered in a nearby hotel. Levin taps
Richard Parsons as his #2 man at Time Warner.
1995: Ostin and
Waronker sign with
Spielberg,
Geffen and
Katzenberg’s
DreamWorks SKG to start a new record label.
Steven Baker is named President of
WB; Ex-
Sire GM
Howie Klein is tapped to head
Reprise.
Levin fires
Morgado, replaces him with 20-year
Time Inc. vet and
HBO Chairman
Michael Fuchs, who, in turn, stunningly dismisses
Morris. Goldberg is also forced out at WB, succeeded by
Russ Thyret. Fuchs lets Interscope split for Universal, then gets canned himself by Levin and replaced by WB Pictures co-heads
Bob Daly and
Terry Semel.
Alanis Morissette’s
Jagged Little Pill is released on
Maverick, sells more than 14 million copies.
1996: Warner Bros. re-signs
R.E.M.,
Thyret names
Phil Quartararo WB President.
1998: Rhino officially becomes a member of
WMG.
1999: Ex-
PolyGram executive
Roger Ames is hired by
Daly and
Semel as head of
Warner Music International in June. Daly and Semel leave the following month. In Oct.,
Ames is upped to
WMG Chairman/CEO.
2000: Ames names
Tom Whalley Chairman/CEO of
Warner Bros. Records, to take effect when his
Interscope contract is up at the close of 2001.
2001: Time Warner Inc. merges with
America Online Inc.
WMG forms
Warner Strategic Marketing from
Rhino.
Russ Thyret retires and
Howie Klein splits, leaving
Phil Q in charge of both
Warner and
Reprise until
Whalley officially takes on the duties of Chairman/CEO in October.
2002: Phil Q leaves
Warner Bros. when negotiations for a new contract break down.
Ron Shapiro and
Craig Kallman are named Co-Presidents of
Atlantic Records by Azzoli, while
Lava Records expands into a full label within the Group, headed by
Jason Flom.
AOLTW chief
Gerald Levin steps down, passing the torch to
Richard Parsons.
2003: WMG sells DVD and CD manufacturing facilities to Canadian
Cinram International.
Time Warner sells its recorded music and publishing holdings to a group of private equity investment firms headed by
Edgar Bronfman Jr. for $2.6 billion.
2004: The WMG acquisition is official. The investor group includes Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital and Providence Equity Partners, creating the world's largest privately held independent music company. The company is expected to streamline operations in an effort to save $250-300 million a year and pump up the company for capital markets and expansion. The restructuring was overseen by the Boston Consulting Group, which also worked with Bronfman during Universal’s acquisition of PolyGram. Lyor Cohen is named head of the company’s U.S. division. Rumors immediately start that WMG is looking for a merger with EMI, as Roger Ames ankles the music group to take a consultancy with Time Warner.
2005: Warner Music Group announces it will sell 32.6 million shares at an estimated price of $22 to $24 a share in an IPO. After finally settling for a $17 share price, with shares selling for between $15.75 and its closing price of $16.20, the stock took a battering on Wall Street, though all Bronfman’s partners would eventually make back their original investments. Over the next five years, the stock would drop below $4. Les Bider leaves his post at Warner/Chappell Music, while Jason Flom splits as Atlantic Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, with his Lava label absorbed by the company.
2006: EMI offers WMG $30 a share for the company.
2007: Edgar Bronfman is sued for $100 million by his one-time partner, former Simon & Schuster chief Richard Snyder for acting “dishonorably and unlawfully” by reneging on a promise to compensate him for helping him with his acquisition of Warner Music Group. The WMG-EMI dance lasts through most of the year. Their year-end balance sheet showed them with a 58% drop in net income during Q4 to $5 million, or 3 cents a share, versus $12 million, or eight cents a share, a year earlier.
2008: Warner Music Group Chairman/CEO Edgar Bronfman restructures its executive ranks, establishing an Office of the Chairman comprised of Lyor Cohen and Michael D. Fleisher. Depeche Mode leaves the label, leading a procession that includes AC/DC, the Eagles, Jewel, Madonna and Nickelback.
2009: Warner Music Nashville formed, with veteran WEA sales exec John Esposito at the helm. Longtime exec Kevin Liles splits the company. A dispute preventing its videos from being shown on YouTube is resolved. Rob Cavallo is named Chief Creative Officer at Warner Bros. Records.
2010: Cavallo is upped to Chairman of Warner Bros. Records, with Todd Moscowitz named Co-President/CEO and Livia Tortella Co-President/COO. Tom Whalley and Diarmuid Quinn leave the company.
2011: WMG announces it has retained the investment firm of Goldman Sachs to look into a sale of the company. Ten bidders emerge through three rounds, with Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries the winner at a price tag of $3.3 billion. So, aside from cashing in with their IPO, Bronfman and his partners reap another $700 million from the original price tag of $2.6 billion.