What's Going On With Sony Stock On Thursday?

Sony Group Corp’s SONY Sony Music is negotiating to acquire Queen’s music catalog, including hits like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” potentially making it one of the largest deals of its kind.

The purchase, possibly totaling $1 billion, involves another investor and the talks are ongoing, according to a Bloomberg report. The stock is trading higher on Thursday.

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Music catalog sales have been rising, with artists fetching significant sums. Sony previously acquired a stake in Michael Jackson’s catalog for at least $600 million and bought Bob Dylan’s recordings in 2022.

Queen’s catalog features major hits and generated £40.9 million ($52 million) in revenue for the year ending September 30, 2022.

The value of music catalogs has surged due to streaming growth and low interest rates.

Earlier in May, Sony reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2023 sales growth of 14% year-on-year to $23.49 billion, beating the analyst consensus of $19.20 billion. EPS of $1.04 beat the analyst consensus of $0.79. 

Music revenue rose 23% Y/Y, and operating income increased by 17.9% Y/Y.

Sony held 2.31 trillion Japanese yen in cash and equivalents as of March 31, 2024.

Sony stock lost 4% in the last 12 months. Investors can gain exposure to the stock via BlackRock Large Cap Core ETF BLCR and Calamos ETF Trust Calamos Antetokounmpo Global Sustainable Equities ETF SROI.

Price Action: SONY shares traded higher by 2.61% at $80.50 premarket at the last check Thursday.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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