Warner Music Launches IPO @ $25
• Warner Music Group Corp. announced the pricing of its initial public offering (IPO) of 77,000,000 shares — up from the previously announced 70,000,000 shares — of its Class A common stock at $25.00 per share. The offering consists entirely of secondary shares to be sold by Access Industries, LLC and certain related selling stockholders. The Company will not receive any proceeds from the offering. The shares of Class A common stock began trading today on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “WMG.”
After the IPO, Warner Music Group will consist of 510,000,000 total shares, and at the IPO price of $25, the now-public company is valued at $12.75 billion.
And there’s more — Warner Music Group, its directors and management, and the Blavatnik Family Foundation announced a $100 million fund to support charitable causes related to the music industry, social justice and campaigns against violence and racism. An advisory panel made up of appointees from Warner Music Group and the Blavatnik Family Foundation will establish procedures to identify and support those in the music community, and organizations strengthening education, and promoting equality, opportunity, diversity and inclusion. The advisory panel will determine the amount of the financial gifts and timing.
Steve Cooper, CEO, Warner Music Group (left) said, “This fund will support the extraordinary, dedicated organizations that are on the front lines of the fight against racism and injustice, and that help those in need across the music industry. Our advisory panel, which will draw from a diverse cross-section of people from our team and the wider community, will help us be very thoughtful and accountable in how we make an impact. We’re determined to contribute, on a sustained long-term basis, to the effort to bring about real change.”
The Blavatnik Family Foundation is exclusively self-funded by American-British industrialist and philanthropist Len Blavatnik, a majority owner and the founder and chairman of Access Industries, a privately held industrial group based in the United States.
