KEVIN LILES DEPARTING 300 ELEKTRA AT END OF MONTH

300 Elektra Entertainment CEO Kevin Liles is making an expected exit from the company at the end of the month amid an ongoing restructuring at Warner Music's Atlantic Recording Group. The longtime exec will act as a consultant through the end of the year.

A former Def Jam president, Liles co-founded 300 with Lyor Cohen and sold it to WMG in late 2021 for a reported $400m. The imprint has launched such artists as Megan Thee Stallion, Young Thug, Fetty Wap and Gunna.

The news follows the previously announced, impending departures of head of Recorded Music Max Lousada and Atlantic CEO Julie Greenwald. The latter will be replaced by 10K Projects founder Elliot Grainge.

In a memo obtained by HITS, Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl said Liles will not be replaced and that "we are working thoughtfully on the future for the entire Atlantic Music Group." In the meantime, Rayna Bass and Selim Bouab will oversee 300, while Gregg Nadel will remain president of Elektra.

"Kevin is one of those charismatic leaders who’s been successful in many different roles—artist manager, label founder, entrepreneur, senior executive," Kyncl said. "With 300 Entertainment, he has been instrumental in growing a distinct identity from the ground up, to a level that few other new labels have matched in the last 20 years."

"The cultural impact we created in 10 years when starting from scratch is simply unmatched in the modern era," Liles said in his own memo to staff. "We transformed our value proposition—'mindset of independent, muscle of a major'—into a model for the rest of the industry to chase in this new era of music."