Warner Music IPO: What You Need To Know

Superfans of Lizzo, Ed Sheeran and Cardi B can now cash in on their idols’ latest hits by investing in this newly public company.

The IPO

Warner Music Group Corp. will issue 70 million shares on the Nasdaq under ticker WMG, according to the firm’s S-1 filing. Priced between $23 and $26, the offering represents 100% of outstanding shares and is expected to bring in about $2.093 billion.

Early Wednesday morning, the company priced its 77-million share IPO at $25 per share. 

Lead underwriters include Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse.

The Company

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Warner Music is a record-label conglomerate that owns the likes of Atlantic Records, Elektra Records and Parlophone Records. It is also a publishing company boasting more than 1.4 million musical works by more than 80,000 artists.

See Also: Warner Music Is Largest US IPO Of The Year

Warner Music currently supports artists like Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and Twenty-One Pilots, and it maintains distribution deals with Apple, YouTube and Tencent.

The company emerged in the 1960s as part of the Warner Bros. studios and was sold by Time Warner to private owners in 2004. It went public in 2005 before leaving the markets in 2011 following an acquisition by Access Industries.

The Finances

In fiscal year 2019, management recorded $4.5 billion in revenue contributing to$258 million in net income. The previous year saw $4 billion in revenue and $312 million in net income.

Photo credit: Brothers Le, Wikimedia