A potential $1.5 billion buyout would hand Primary Wave its very first in-house publishing administration machine.
Primary Wave eyes Kobalt Music Group
Primary Wave eyes Kobalt Music Group
- Larry Mestel's outfit is the sole remaining bidder.
- Kobalt's valuation could hit double its 2022 price tag.
- Francisco Partners grabbed a 90% stake for $750 million.
- FP apparently feels no rush to let Kobalt go.
- Laurent Hubert fired off an internal memo to staff.
- His message stressed Kobalt staying independently operated.
- Hubert pointed to strong platform performance under FP.
- Market interest keeps circling the company regardless.
- Primary Wave sits at roughly $6 billion in value.
- The combined entity could top $7 billion easily.
- Brookfield's $2 billion partnership fuels Mestel's buying power.
- Goldman Sachs is reportedly advising on negotiations.
- Over 1 million songs span 10 worldwide offices.
- AMRA collects digital royalties directly from streaming platforms.
- A Morgan Stanley venture deployed $700 million into catalogs.
- KOSIGN targets indie artists needing royalty collection help.
- Mestel's firm historically leaned on third-party royalty administrators.
- Expired admin deals have been funneling toward Universal lately.
- Kobalt's platform would entirely flip that dependency.
- AMRA's direct-collection model could fatten margins considerably.
- Revenue jumped to $794.4 million from $522 million prior.
- Adjusted EBITDA climbed to $75.3 million from $47.4 million.
- Roughly $100 million in EBITDA under US accounting standards.
- Next filings land at Companies House by March 2026.
- BMG Rights Management reportedly wants to scoop up Concord.
- That potential transaction could reach $7 billion in territory.
- Bertelsmann's BMG would absorb another indie heavyweight.
- Two massive consolidation plays are running simultaneously.
