Finance

Earlier this year, BNP Paribas Exane analyst William Packer memorably double-downgraded his outlook for Universal Music Group’s stock, with AI being a key reason for the move. Pershing Square, the NYC-headquartered hedge fund management company run by billionaire investor Bill Ackman – and the owner of approximately 10% of UMG – is at the other end of the spectrum.

Source: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square stays bullish on Universal Music Group, even vs. AI: ‘The long tail of AI-generated content will likely never be heard and will not displace legitimate artists’ work.’

Following reports that a source close to the situation revealed to Billboard that performing rights organization Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) was in talks to sell itself to private equity firm New Mountain Capital, rumors continue to surface over whether the deal will close. If true, the supposed price tag for the transaction is a whopping $1.7 billion.

Source: The On-Again, Off-Again Sale of BMI — Where Are We Now?

TikTok competitor Triller is preparing to go public, but estimates from Apptopia call its self-reported user numbers into question. Per Triller’s S-1 filing, the short-form video app has had 550 million lifetime sign-ups. But market intelligence firm Apptopia estimates that Triller has been downloaded just 73.2 million times since launch in 2015 — that’s 87% lower than Triller’s own reports.

Source: Triller’s S-1 filing claims 550M users, but its app installs fall far short, new data shows | TechCrunch

Shortly after attracting $2.7 million in funding, MasterExchange, a marketplace for investing in music royalties, announced that it has sold out its first so-called initial music offering (IMO). MasterExchange provides a marketplace to invest in music by purchasing royalty shares. The platform’s debut ‘IMO’ centered around the track Sofia by Alvaro Soler, co-produced by T.I Jakke.

Source: After raising $2.7m, music royalties marketplace MasterExchange sells out its first ‘initial music offering’

Robert A. Iger’s urgent need to overhaul Disney — to turn its streaming division into a profitable enterprise and pull back on its troubled traditional television business — came into sharp relief on Wednesday. Disney’s streaming operation lost $512 million in the most-recent quarter, the company said, bringing total streaming losses since 2019, when Disney+ was introduced, to more than $11 billion.

Source: For Disney, Streaming Losses and TV’s Decline Are a One-Two Punch

The launch comes two months after securing a $250 million credit facility from Chicago-headquartered Victory Park Capital,  Last year, Stem raised $20 million in a funding round led by QED Investors, a venture capitalist firm in the fintech space. While Stem offers curated distribution services for independent artists and labels, Tone will develop a suite of financial tools tailored to the music industry. 

Source: Stem introduces ‘Tone’ financial services platform for the music industry

During the company’s latest earnings call, held on Tuesday (August 8), CEO Robert Kyncl said he was “pleased” to see that all the major music streaming services – including, most recently, Spotify – have raised prices on their individual subscription plans, calling it “the fiscally responsible thing to do.” Yet Kyncl made it clear that he expects to see streaming price hikes become a regular part of the music landscape going forward.

Source: Warner Expects ‘More Regular’ Streaming Price Hikes Ahead, and 3 Other Things We Learned On WMG’s Latest Earnings Call

Just like every other major media company that has reported its Q2 results already, the CBS parent company’s execs addressed the work stoppages with hopes for a timely resolution and comments on how it will affect their business operations. “We anticipate continued delays in production for the duration of the strikes, and as such, we estimate free cash flow in the back half of the year will be significantly higher than previously expected,” Paramount CFO Naveen Chopra said.

Source: Paramount Says Strikes Will ‘Significantly’ Boost Free Cash Flow in Late 2023; CEO Promises to ‘Minimize Disruptions’ to Viewers

In a move that some in the industry will welcome as putting at least a temporary stop to industry consolidation, the private investment firm KKR has reached an agreement with Paramount Global to acquire Simon & Schuster for $1.62 billion in an all cash transaction. Though below the $2.175 billion that Penguin Random House had previously agreed to pay for the country’s third largest trade publisher, $1.62 billion is a healthy price since most trade publishers sell for not much better than 1.5 times sales, and S&S’s 2022 revenue was $1.18 billion.

Source: KKR Wins S&S for $1.62 Billion