Quantcast

WMG SELLS 75% OF SPOTIFY SHARES

Warner Music Group has sold $400m of its Spotify stock. WMG CEO Steve Cooper announced the divestiture prior to touting WMG’s robust second quarter.

The company sold 75% of its holdings in Spotify. "We will be sharing equity proceeds with distributed labels,” Cooper said, provided the labels' agreements have that stipulation.

“This sale has nothing to do with our view of Spotify’s future. We’re hugely optimistic about the growth of subscription streaming, we know it has only just begun to fulfill its potential for global scale.”

“We’re not long-time holders of equities,” said Eric Levin, Warner Music Group’s Executive Vice President and CFO, who noted the company would monitor the market to determine when or if to sell the rest of its stake in the Daniel Ek-led company.

Streaming was once again the big story in quarterly results. Digital revenue in Warner Music Group's second quarter topped rose nearly 25% over 2017 numbers—19.7% in constant currency—as the company posted another stronger quarter across its recorded music and music publishing divisions.

WMG’s recorded music unit pulled in $791m in the quarter, a 15% rise. Of that total $491m was digital revenue, $415m of it from streaming, up from $300m a year ago. The increase in streaming revenue makes up for the drops of 5% in physical and 21% in downloads; streaming is now 6X more than downloads.

Music Publishing revenue rose 20% (or 13.7% in constant currency) while it operating income was flat at $41m.

Overall, WMG’s revenue was up 17% to $963m. Levin said, “This is our 11th consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth and we’re proud of our ability to deliver robust results on a consistent basis.”

In a conference call, the company touted the sales of The Greatest Showman soundtrack, Dua Lipa and Cardi B in addition to ADA’s “great quarter,” which owed to Jason Aldean domestically and Kylie Minogue internationally.

The company has a cash balance of $612m, total debt of $2.95b and net debt of $2.34b.

NEAR TRUTHS: SPRING BLOOMS
Here come the big guns. (3/28a)
THE COUNT: COLDPLAY IS HOT, COUNTRY'S COOKIN' IN THE U.K.
The latest tidbits from the bustling live sector (3/28a)
CITY OF HOPE TAPS MARCIANO FOR TOP HONOR
This year's philanthropic model (3/28a)
TRUST IN THE TOP 20
Hip-hop is no longer hibernating. (3/28a)
UMG BROADENS SPOTIFY OFFERINGS
Sir Lucian and Daniel are in harmony. (3/28a)
THE NEW UMG
Gosh, we hope there are more press releases.
TIKTOK BANNED!
Unless the Senate manages to make this whole thing go away, that is.
THE NEW HUGE COUNTRY ACT
No, not that one.
TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PLAYLIST
Now 100% unlicensed!
 Email

 First Name

 Last Name

 Company

 Country
CAPTCHA code
Captcha: (type the characters above)