French media conglomerate Vivendi SE revealed on Wednesday that its most-prized asset, Universal Music Group, is now worth 33 billion euros ($40 billion). This means that Universal is now worth more than its parent company. With a general meeting scheduled in June, Vivendi has released related documents outlining the details of its planned listing of Universal. The plan involves seeing Universal distribute 60% of its capital to its current shareholders.
This move has been planned in order to extract maximum wealth from the world’s biggest music label, famous for signing A-list artists including Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. Even as the coronavirus pandemic put a halt on live concerts, online streaming services such as Spotify provided a platform for the music industry to rebound.
Once the initial public offering is underway, the ownership of Universal is expected to be divided among Vivendi at 20%, the Tencent-led consortium at 20%, and Bollore at 16%.
According to Refinitiv data, Vivendi currently has a market value of 32 billion euros, just one billion euros shy of Universal’s valuation. The market value of Universal Music Group was calculated by accounting firms PWC and EY.
