Universal Music shares soar in stock market debut

PARIS: Shares of Universal Music, whose lineup features The Beatles and Taylor Swift, soared on the label’s stock market debut on Tuesday, bolstering confidence in one of the largest IPOs in recent years.

The music giant was floated by its owner, French media giant Vivendi, with shares jumping from a debut price of 18.50 euros to over 25 euros ($29) on the Euronext Amsterdam index.

The world’s biggest label, with a catalogue of four million titles, was valued at $39 billion on the eve of its market introduction.

Shares of Vivendi, by contrast, sank by more than 15 percent on the Paris CAC 40 stock exchange as the media company offloaded a majority stake of its crown jewel.

Vivendi is owned by French billionaire Vincent Bollore, who has positioned himself as a powerful right-wing media baron in recent years.

Although Vivendi retained a chunk of Universal Music, it is looking to focus more on TV, advertising and publishing.

Universal Music, like its rivals Warner and Sony, was once threatened by music piracy but profits have soared in the age of streaming. It is home to many of the world’s biggest music stars, from Lady Gaga to Kanye West to Metallica.

Last year the group bought Bob Dylan’s entire song catalogue for $300 million, one of the biggest acquisitions in music history.

Based in Santa Monica, California, UMG has been a cash cow for Vivendi’s media empire, with a turnover of 7.4 billion euros last year, accounting for 46 percent of the parent company’s revenue.

But as it pivoted towards other areas, Vivendi sold off a 20 per cent stake of Universal to Chinese tech firm Tencent and 10 percent to US financier Bill Ackman.

“We are creating the conditions so that the valuation of Vivendi as a whole is greater than the sum of the parts that compose it,” said Vivendi chief executive Arnaud de Puyfontaine.

Aware that shedding its number one asset might be a risky move, Vivendi has taken steps – described as “quite extraordinary” by one activist shareholder – to protect its own share price.