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Tencent acquires stake in newly public Warner Music Group

  • At current prices, Tencent’s investment is worth more than US$246 million
  • The music industry is enjoying a long-running financial renaissance, thanks to the popularity of streaming services

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The Warner Music Group logo is displayed outside the company's headquarters in the Arts District neighbourhood of Los Angeles, California, on June 3. The group’s shareholders raised $1.93 billion in an initial public offering that ranks as one of the biggest US listings this year. Photo: Bloomberg

Tencent Holdings acquired a 10.4 per cent stake in the class A shares of Warner Music Group Corp, a bet on the industry’s long-term growth prospects following the US music label’s US$1.9 billion initial public offering last week.

Shenzhen-based Tencent, which runs the world’s largest video games business by revenue and China’s largest social media platform, bought 8 million class A Warner Music shares, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

At current prices, Tencent’s investment is worth more than US$246 million. That represents a quick gain from the initial price of US$25 a share that Warner Music fetched last week in its IPO.

In December, a consortium led by Tencent agreed to buy a 10 per cent stake in Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest music company.

Warner Music is controlled by billionaire Len Blavatnik through his ownership of Class B stock with super voting rights. Including all of the classes of stock, the company holds a 1.6 per cent stake.

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