Earlier this year one of the music industry’s powerhouse companies, Warner Music Group (“Warner”), began accepting bids for its recorded music and publishing companies. While Warner preferred bids for the business as a whole, there were numerous bidders who placed bids for one or the other. The bidders included Live Nation, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group. However, Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries was amongst the crew that placed a bid for the entire company, which indeed ended up being a successful move for the private equity firm. On or about May 6, 2011 Warner agreed to sell to Blavatnik for more than $3billion . . . $3.3 billion to be exact.

Post-Purchase

After purchasing Warner, Blavatnik was eager to purchase EMI’s recorded music company from Citibank, which took over the music giant earlier this year when its private equity owner defaulted on its loan payment. However, according to Bloomberg News, last month what would have been a huge acquisition for Warner ended when negotiations fell through as the parties could not agree on a common bid price.

Obviously no one really knows what lies in the future for the music powerhouse, but we do know that Warner is in  “that” transition period that can be very interesting as it pertains to its key players, especially the executives whose fate with the company can change at any given time. One of the most significant changes in management occurred in mid-August when Stephen Cooper replaced Edgar Bronfamn Jr. as Chief Executive Officer of Warner. It is by no means a surprise that Cooper is, and has been, a board member of Blavatnik’s Access Industries. There have been numerous other changes, such as the appointment of Kei lshizaka as the Chairman and CEO of Warner Music Japan that are highlighted in Warner’s News website.

For more updates on Warner’s post-buyout state, continue to visit fortherechord.com.