MARTY TAKES A BOW—AND PLANS HIS NEXT ACT

This week, the one and only Marty Bandier ends his tenure atop Sony/ATV Music Publishing, over which he’s presided since 2007. Marty, as we’ve noted numerous times, invented the modern publishing game, and his biography is studded with triumphs like the building of EMI Music Publishing, that pubbery’s 1997 purchase of a half-stake of Jobete, the subsequent acquisition of EMI by Sony and SATV’s growth—amid Bandier’s reign—into the 800-lb. gorilla of the space. And then there's the establishment of the Bandier Program for the Music and Entertainment Industries at his alma mater, Syracuse.

Marty’s successor at the pub giant is Jon Platt, one of many execs he's mentored.

While the cigar-puffing icon hasn’t yet announced what his next chapter will look like, he is said to be in the last stages of negotiations with Texas-based investment giant TPG Capital (which is a majority owner of CAA and a big investor in Spotify, among other giant properties) to start a new venture. Insiders believe this deal will close within 30 days. For now, we light a Cohiba Robusto in salute of a trailblazer who’s just now laying the ground for his next expedition.