Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Vivendi looks to cash in on music industry's rise from the ashes

Published 31/07/2018, 13:57
Updated 31/07/2018, 14:00
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A logo is seen over the main entrance of the entertainment-to-telecoms conglomerate Vivendi's headquarters in Paris

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A logo is seen over the main entrance of the entertainment-to-telecoms conglomerate Vivendi's headquarters in Paris

By Mathieu Rosemain and Sudip Kar-Gupta

PARIS (Reuters) - French tycoon Vincent Bollore is looking to cash in on the music industry's revival with plans to sell up to half of Vivendi (PA:VIV)'s iconic Universal Music division - an asset worth up 30 billion euros ($35 billion).

The billionaire, who controls Vivendi with a 25 percent stake, has for years resisted calls to take advantage of the rising value of Universal Music Group (UMG), home to artists like Taylor Swift, Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga.

But a growing public thirst for subscription and ad-based music streaming services, and the recent signing of several major license deals, have put key rights owners like UMG under investors' spotlight as they vie with streaming platforms like Spotify to take advantage of the changing trends.

Vivendi's shares were up about 4.5 percent at 1213 GMT on Tuesday after the company beat first-half earnings' expectations late on Monday, driven by a jump in music streaming revenues, and said it was considering selling up to 50 percent of UMG to one or more strategic partners.

The results further confirmed that UMG, the world's biggest label ahead of Warner Music and Sony Music Entertainment, had overcome the challenge from the collapse of downloads and compact disk sales, which had at one time raised concerns about the unit's long-term survival.

BACK FROM THE ASHES

After a 15-year downturn, the music industry has rebounded in the past three years, with global recorded music revenues increasing by 8.1 percent in 2017 to $17.3 billion, according to the record industry trade group IFPI.

Streaming revenues represented the bulk of the growth, with sales surging more than 41 percent last year, driven by 176 million paid subscribers.

Market leader in music streaming Spotify (N:SPOT) and rival Apple Music (O:AAPL) are the driving forces behind that trend.

Both might soon be joined by internet giant Tencent Holdings (HK:0700), which said this month it was looking to spin off and list its online music business, China's biggest music-streaming company, in the United States.

The music industry's revival is such that some analysts expect Apple Music to be a key driver of Apple's third-quarter earnings growth, due out later on Tuesday.

Selling a significant stake in UMG would mark a departure from Vivendi's previous indications that it could list and sell a minority stake in the unit.

That scenario, however, would have posed the risk of seeing investors turn to UMG and leave Vivendi, Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) analysts said in a note.

Vivendi's other key assets include pay-TV Canal Plus and advertising group Havas. Under Bollore's tenure, the media group has bought sizable stakes in Telecom Italia (MI:TLIT) and broadcasting Mediaset (MI:MS), which have yet to bear fruit.

In 2015 U.S. activist fund P. Schoenfeld Asset Management called for Vivendi to sell part or all of UMG to return cash to investors.

Those demands came two years after Japanese telecoms giant SoftBank (T:9984) made a bid for UMG, offering $8.5 billion for the division - three to four times lower than current analyst valuations.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A logo is seen over the main entrance of the entertainment-to-telecoms conglomerate Vivendi's headquarters in Paris

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.