Universal Music Group valued at $22bn

Universal Music Group valued at $22bn

Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest music label, is worth $22 billion, according to the French owner of the label, Vincent Bolloré. Indeed, on April 25, Vivendi held its annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday and the company’s chairman and controlling shareholder gave word about the new eye-popping valuation.

Most on Wall Street had pegged the value of Universal, home to Selena Gomez, U2, Drake and Lady Gaga, among many others, at closer to $13 billion. But Universal’s sales have been improving and a music industry tracker confirmed on Tuesday that total worldwide music revenue, aided by a rapid rise in streaming, leaped by 6 percent in 2016, to $15.7 billion.

Vivendi’s estimate of UMG’s value came from investment bankers’ estimates of the label value. No banker has been hired to undertake an initial public offering, however.

The last major label to be acquired was Warner Music Group in 2012. It cost owner Len Blavatnik $3.3 billion. Around that time, UMG paid $1.9 billion for EMI’s recorded music business. Sony paid $2.2 billion for EMI’s publishing business.