welcome to The music industry around the worldWeekly Recap – where we make sure you’ve caught the five biggest stories that have made headlines in the past seven days. The MBW Roundup is supported by Centtripwhich helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their income and lower their touring costs.
It was not a quiet week in the music industry.
It all started on Monday (March 27) with the news that, following a staggered, supposedly “hostile” attempt to acquire a substantial stake in rival SM Entertainment, HYBE had made an about-face.
Instead, the house of BTS announced that it intends to sell its entire 15.78% stake in SM compete with the Kakao bidder for approximately US$435 million.
Two days later, Kakao finished with a 39.9% stake in SM Entertainment, in part by acquiring shares of HYBE. Yet, due to an oversubscribed tender offer process, HYBE retains a 8.8% stake in SM as things stand.
Things got more newsworthy from there.
On Wednesdaynew Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl announced that his company is cutting around 270 jobs worldwide. Kyncl suggested that WMG expects to reallocate the money saved to “new skills for the development of artists and songwriters” and to “new technology initiatives”.
Certainly Believehe looks cunning Acquisition of $51 million of a music publishing house Sentric from Utopia… which itself acquired Sentric less than a year ago.
Here are the biggest music industry hits of the week…
Warner Music Group is reducing its global workforce by approximately 270 positions.
The news was announced to WMG staff on Wednesday morning (March 29), in a memo from Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl obtained by MBW.
Kyncl writes that, in his “discussions with our leaders across the company, many of them have come to the same conclusion – that to take advantage of the opportunities before us, we must make tough choices in order to evolve”.
He added that “in accordance with this guidance”, the company has “made the difficult decision” to reduce its global workforce by approximately 270 people, or about 4%.
According to Warner’s 2022 annual report, as of September 30, 2022, it employed approximately 6,200 people worldwide.
GMBAnnual revenue reached €866 million ($911 million) in 2022, up €203 million, or 30.6%, year-over-year.
The Germany-based music company’s latest fiscal results were released today (March 30) by its parent company, Bertelsmann.
These results showed that BMG’s annual operating EBITDA increased by more than 50 million euros (+35.4%) YoY in 2022 to reach €195 million ($205 million).
Universal Music GroupThe board of directors has extended Sir’s contract Lucian Grange will remain chairman and CEO of the company until May 1, 2028.
Grainge’s new five-year deal combines elements of cash and equity compensation (his previous deal was a cash-only package).
Grainge’s annual salary under the new deal will be cut by more than two-thirds from his current salary of US$5 million.
The equity component of Grainge’s new contract will include annual awards of $20 million, including up to 50% performance share units (PSUs) – with annual PSU targets set by the Board of Directors. administration of UMG – and the remainder comprised of restricted stock units (RSUs).
As part of its long-term incentive plan, Grainge will receive a one-time transition stock award of $100 million, 50% in the form of PSUs and 50% in the form of stock options performance (OSP).
So: are the bosses of the music majors happy? A little, of course. For the moment.
But on one particular topic, perhaps more than any other, they remain vocally unsettled: the glut of music releases on streaming services every 24 hours.
