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Ed Sheeran's label boss set for stock market windfall Ed Sheeran's label owner set for stock market windfall
(32 minutes later)
Warner Music Group, home to a host of stars including Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars, plans to sell shares in the US.Warner Music Group, home to a host of stars including Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars, plans to sell shares in the US.
Billionaire Len Blavatnik bought the company for $1.3bn in 2011, when the industry was in the depths of a multi-year slump. Billionaire Sir Len Blavatnik bought the company for $3.3bn (£2.5bn) in 2011, when the industry was in the depths of a multi-year slump.
He looks set for a major windfall as music sales have jumped in recent years.He looks set for a major windfall as music sales have jumped in recent years.
This has been helped by the rapid growth of paid streaming services such as Spotify and Apple. The growth in demand has been helped by the rapid rise of paid streaming services such as Spotify and Apple.
Last year Vivendi agreed to sell a minority stake in Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, to a group led by China's Tencent. This has boosted the value of music companies, attracting more investors back to the record industry.
Last year rival Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, was valued at more than $33bn after media group Vivendi sold a minority share of it to a group led by China's Tencent.
In contrast to other recent high-profile stock market listings, Warner Music is profitable, reporting net income last year of $256m.
Warner Music includes some of the world's biggest record labels including Atlantic, Warner, and Parlophone.
The company also owns Warner Chappell, a music publishing business. While recorded music makes up the vast majority of Warner Music's income, music publishing is a more profitable and stable business.
Ukraine-born Mr Blavatnik now has joint UK-US citizenship and received a knighthood in 2017 for services to philanthropy. He has a net worth of more than $25bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.