The Warner Music Group Corp has announced its intent to go public, and will issue out a total of 70 million shares of its Class A common stock. The initial public offering (IPO) price is expected to be between $23.00 and $26.00 per share, with the offerings consisting entirely of secondary shares to be sold by Access Industries, LLC and certain associated stockholders. The stock will be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol WMG.
This latest IPO means that WMG will now be a publicly-traded and owned entity, allowing its shares to be freely traded on the stock exchange, or in over-the-counter markets. The companies underwriters, which are represented by Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, will be handling the public issuance of this stock, while selling these securities to investors.
These underwriters will also have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $10.5 million shares of Class A common stock from the selling stockholders. While this offering has been filed by the company to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, this offering has not been placed into effect as of press time.
The company first announced its intent to go public back in February, following a massive $3.84 billion influx of revenue for the 2019 fiscal year. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed this growth however, as the company reported a total of $74 million in losses for the second quarter of 2020. The record label is prolific, hosting high profile artists such as Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Cardi B on its roster.