State Champ Radio siriusxm
The Billie Eilish multi-media blitz in advance of the upcoming release of her third studio album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, will kick off in earnest on Friday (May 10) with the launch of Billie Eilish Radio on SiriusXM. The dedicated streaming channel will debut at noon E.T. with a mix curated by the “What […]
A dip in SiriusXM‘s paid subscribers in the first quarter caused the satellite radio giant’s stock to fall by more than 7% on Tuesday (April 30), even as first-quarter revenue beat analysts’ expectations.
The company reported that first-quarter revenue inched 0.8% higher to $2.16 billion — analysts polled by the London Stock Exchange were expecting $2.13 billion — thanks mainly to a 7% uptick in ad sales revenue.
Ad revenue totaled $402 million in the quarter, enough to offset a 1% decline in subscription revenue, which came in at $1.68 billion and contributes nearly 80% of the company’s overall earnings.
A 1.4% decline in self-pay subscribers to 31.58 million customers in the quarter contributed to “slightly higher churn” as an increase in sales of vehicles with existing subscriptions led to those subscribers shifting into unpaid trials, SiriusXM CFO Tom Barry said on a call with analysts.
Trending on Billboard
Executives reiterated their 2024 guidance and said they expected improvements in their subscription revenue, trial subscriptions and ad revenue in the second half of the year.
Despite the rollout of a new and costly streaming app with features SiriusXM says allow it to tailor content to subscribers, executives faced questions from analysts over what will charge future growth.
“On the business side, it’s really about reinvigorating demand,” SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz said on the call. “It’s taking longer than we’d hoped in terms of the rollout of the new platform and our ability to capitalize on improvements in marketing. But the key opportunities to build demand … are clear, across price, discovery and control, and we have this multipronged effort to [drive] these things.”
The company is hopeful that the revamped app, which launched in December and costs $9.99 per month, will attract new subscribers and drive revenue growth.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 4% to $650 million. The company’s gross profit edged 0.6% higher to $1.13 billion, while the gross profit margin held flat at 53% in the quarter compared to last year. Total operating expenses held roughly flat at $1.73 billion.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is a big investor in SiriusXM, having purchased nearly 9.7 million shares worth approximately $44 million last fall and then another 1.9 million shares worth $50 million of its tracking stock earlier this month.
In February, SiriusXM laid off 3% of its workforce affecting around 170 workers at the company, which said the cuts would enable it to invest in content and new technologies.
SiriusXM’s stock closed at $2.92 on Tuesday (April 30), down 7.2%.
Eleven months after SiriusXM cut 8% of its workforce, the company announced on Monday (Feb. 12) that it will eliminate another 3% of its staff. The layoffs will impact about 170 jobs based on the company’s head count of 5,680 full-time and part-time employees as of Dec. 31, according to its 2023 annual report.
The cuts will affect every team and business unit and will enable SiriusXM to invest in its content, marketing and technology platform, a company spokesperson told Billboard.
In a memo to staff announcing the cuts, CEO Jennifer Witz used much of the same language that executives at Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Spotify employed to explain decisions to restructure those companies and reduce headcount. Not only is SiriusXM reducing its salary expense, but it’s also building for the future and investing in new technologies.
“We made significant progress on the transformation of our business in 2023, but we have just begun to scratch the surface of what is possible here at SiriusXM,” Witz wrote in the memo. “To continue on our path to future subscriber growth and sustain our Company’s success as the competitive landscape evolves, it’s imperative that we become even more efficient, agile, and flexible. Therefore, today we are making several organizational changes, including the difficult decision to eliminate certain roles, which will allow us to move faster and collaborate more effectively in support of our long-term objectives. From uniting teams and better aligning initiatives, to investing in new technologies that will power our transformation, we are focused on increasing efficiencies and redeploying resources to support the strategic priorities of our business.”
Once-dependable revenue growth has been harder to find as many consumers shift their listening to streaming services. In 2023, SiriusXM’s revenue fell 0.6% to $7.95 billion as the company lost 445,000 self-pay subscribers to its satellite radio service. Despite reducing its headcount to 5,680 from 5,869 during 2023, general and administrative expenses increased 5% to $550 million last year, and its operating margin fell from 22.6% to 21.7% .
SiriusXM is hopeful its revamped streaming app — and a $9.99-per-month price tag, which is lower than the satellite radio service — will attract new subscribers and mark the return of revenue growth. The new app launched Dec. 14 and “is yielding promising signs of improved engagement,” Witz said during the Feb. 1 earnings call. The apps personalization features and reduced latency, along with a redesigned SiriusXM logo, have created “a positive lift in brand perception among the growth audience segments we are looking to attract,” she added.
Investors tend to react positively to news of layoffs made to reduce costs and speed a transformation. Shares of SiriusXM rose as much as 3.1% to $5.05 Monday morning and stood at $5.01, up 2.1%, in the mid-afternoon.
SiriusXM added 131,000 self-pay subscribers in the fourth quarter and beat its full-year guidance for earnings and free cash flow while only slightly missing its revenue goal, the company announced Thursday (Feb. 1). The satellite radio giant lost 445,000 self-pay subscribers for the full year, however.
Full-year revenue declined 0.6% to $8.95 billion, slightly below last quarter’s guidance of $9 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) declined 2% to $2.8 billion, coming in a little above guidance of $2.75 billion. Free cash flow of $1.2 billion was down about 23% but beat guidance by $50 million.
SiriusXM, built on a satellite radio service favored by older consumers, is in re-building mode. The company launched a new app in November and a $9.99-per-month streaming-only subscription service aimed at younger audiences who don’t listen primarily in their cars. The app houses Sirius’ 400-plus channels in addition to an audio library and a growing stable of podcast content that includes such brands as Smartless, which earlier this week left Amazon’s Wondery after striking a $100 million deal with SiriusXM, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco, which SiriusXM acquired in 2022.
The strategy isn’t likely to produce results this year, though. “While early indications are showing signs of positive impacts of our business investments, it will take time for these to fully reflect in our subscriber and financial metrics,” said CEO Jennifer Witz during Thursday’s earnings call.
While SiriusXM expects “roughly level” subscriber numbers in 2024, new streaming-only subscribers pay less than satellite radio subscribers and will result in a lower average revenue per user. Those factors, along with an advertising market Witz called “uncertain,” leads the company to expect two of its key financial metrics to fall in 2024. Full-year revenue guidance of $8.75 billion would be a 2.2% decline from $8.95 billion in 2023, while adjusted EBITDA guidance of $2.7 billion would mark a 3.3% year-over-year decline. Free cash flow is expected to remain at $1.2 billion.
Investors appeared to have baked the rebuild process into their forecasts and did not react negatively to Thursday’s earnings results. Shares of SiriusXM rose as much as 5.1% on Thursday morning and closed at $5.23, up 2.8%.
SiriusXM’s satellite radio service generated full-year revenue of $6.8 billion, down 1% year over year. Self-pay subscribers grew 131,000 in the fourth quarter after falling 96,000 in the third quarter. For the full year, self-pay subscribers fell by 445,000 to approximately 34 million. Paid promotional subscribers dropped by 225,000 in the fourth quarter but increased by 15,000 for the full year.
Pandora revenue increased 1% to $1.6 billion, while its subscribers fell 3% to 6.0 million, down from 6.2 million at the end of 2022. The music streaming service finished the year with 46.0 million monthly active users, down 3.4% from 47.6 million in the prior-year period. Total ad-supported listener hours of 10.48 billion in 2023 was down 4% from 10.88 billion in 2022. Pandora’s gross profit dipped 3% to $638 million.
SiriusXM laid off 8% of its staff in March 2023, which resulted in approximately $140 million in cost savings, CFO Tom Barry said on Thursday. This year, the company is targeting nearly $200 million in additional savings, he added, that will be “reinvested” in “more targeted and more performance-oriented marketing on the streaming side.”
SiriusXM’s full-year 2023 financial metrics
Total revenue of $8.95 billion, down 0.6%.
Adjusted EBITDA of $2.8 billion, down 2%.
Free cash flow of $1.2 billion, down 23%.
SiriusXM revenue of $6.8 billion, down 1%.
Pandora revenue of $1.6 billion, up 1%.
SiriusXM satellite radio self-pay subscribers of 34 million.
Pandora subscribers of 6 million.
SiriusXM and Stitcher will not have to face a lawsuit from former Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek accusing them of reneging on a $700,000 podcast deal.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Broadbelt, in a tentative order issued on Friday, dismissed the suit, finding that the audio giant “did not enter into a contract” with the actor since they didn’t finalize the agreement.
Van Der Beek said he reached a deal over email with executives from SiriusXM to host 40 episodes in exchange for a $700,000 minimum guarantee and a 50 percent cut of the net ad revenue. He sued in 2022 after the company walked away from the agreement.
Ruling in favor of SiriusXM on summary judgment, the court concluded that the two sides aren’t bound by an April 2022 document outlining the terms of the deal. It pointed to the first page of the proposal, which states that it’s for “discussion purposes only, is not a binding commitment in any respect, and is not to be interpreted in any respect as a binding commitment to negotiate.”
There was extensive evidence presented to the court referencing the need to sign a definitive, longform agreement contemplated in the initial proposal. Included among them was an email from Stitcher’s Associate Director of Business Development Leah Reis-Dennis, who stated in an April 2022 email “we are ready to call terms officially closed and (finally!) get the longform started.”
Van Der Beek argued that the proposal constitutes a valid, binding contract because Reis-Dennis made various comments indicating that the terms were “closed.”
“However, in those emails, Reis-Dennis also stated that Defendants would be working to begin drafting the longform agreement or request that the longform be drafted,” stated the order, which noted that the actor’s transactional lawyer also discussed having to sign the document to lock down the deal.
Broadbelt also rejected arguments that SiriusXM should be bound by the April 2022 document because the company already started to fulfill some of its terms by beginning the process of hiring a senior producer and requesting Van Der Beek’s payroll information.
In a declaration to the court, Reis-Dennis testified that she requested “loanout info” in order to set up payments to the actor but clarified that she would pay him only “if that agreement was signed.”
The order explained, “Plaintiff has not presented any evidence or argument showing that Reis-Dennis’s request for information to set up payments in the future (1) is inconsistent with the earlier statements that the parties would be bound only upon the execution of a longform agreement, or (2) constitutes an outward manifestation that Defendants intended to be bound by the terms of the April 28 Proposal without such a longform agreement.”
Van Der Beek brought claims relating to breach of contract and sought damages exceeding the $700,000 agreement.
SiriusXM, which was represented by Jordan Susman of Nolan Heimann, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
SiriusXM is facing a lawsuit from New York’s attorney general over allegations that the satellite radio and streaming service has made it “extremely difficult” for listeners to cancel their subscriptions.
In a complaint filed Wednesday (Dec. 20) in Manhattan court, Attorney General Letitia James’ office accused SiriusXM of subjecting canceling customers to “a lengthy and burdensome endurance contest,” which allegedly requires phone conversations with a live agent and extended time spent on hold.
“Sirius deliberately wastes its subscribers’ time even though it has the ability to process cancellations with the click of a button,” attorneys from James’ office wrote in the lawsuit. “The only reason Sirius requires cancelling subscribers to interact with a live agent at all is to maximize its opportunity to retain them as subscribers.”
In a statement announcing the lawsuit, James said it followed an investigation that showed SiriusXM was “trapping consumers” with its cancellation process, including by training its employees “not take ‘no’ for an answer.”
“Having to endure a lengthy and frustrating process to cancel a subscription is a stressful burden no one looks forward to, and when companies make it hard to cancel subscriptions, it’s illegal,” James said. “Consumers should be able to cancel a subscription they no longer use or need without any issues, and companies have a legal duty to make their cancellation process easy.”
Following the filing of the lawsuit, a spokeswoman for SiriusXM said the company would “vigorously defend against these baseless allegations,” saying that they “grossly mischaracterize” its practices.
“It’s telling that the New York Attorney General issued a press release before providing SiriusXM with a copy of the complaint,” the company statement said. “Like a number of consumer businesses, we offer a variety of options for customers to sign up for or cancel their SiriusXM subscription.”
According to the new lawsuit, SiriusXM automatically renews subscriptions at the end of a term unless a user calls on the phone to cancel. The lawsuit claims that users are sometimes forced to wait as long as 25 minutes just to connect with an agent, who then subject them to a “six-part script” in which they are trained to repeatedly refuse to actually terminate the subscription.
“Sirius requires its live agents to present a series of renewal offers to retain the consumer as a subscriber,” the AG’s office wrote in the lawsuit. “But when a consumer declines an offer, or refuses to hear further offers, Sirius instructs its agents not to take ‘no’ for an answer.”
By doing so, SiriusSM forces subscribers to “devote inordinate amounts of time, patience, and stamina trying to cancel a subscription they no longer wish to pay for,” the lawsuit says, even though they have a “legal and contractual right to cancel anytime using a process that is simple and efficient.”
SiriusXM’s announcement that it planned to merge its stock with Liberty SiriusXM Group, a tracking stock of Liberty Media, helped the SiriusXM share price climb 16.4% to $5.40 this week after it lagged for much of 2023. Friday’s high mark of $5.78 nearly brought the stock back to where it ended 2022, at $5.84 per share.
The deal, which requires regulatory approval and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2024, “will create value for all stockholders by eliminating the tracking stock structure, enhancing liquidity and allowing former LSXM stockholders to participate directly in the ongoing performance of SiriusXM,” said Greg Maffei, Liberty Media president/CEO, in a statement released Tuesday (Dec. 12).
Elsewhere, Live Nation climbed 9.2% to $93.00 this week thanks in part to an investor note by Morgan Stanley analysts that raised the price target to $110 from $100. Analysts pointed to a “secular shift” in consumer spending on experiences, the company’s increased disclosure about its Venue Nation business and a “highly unlikely” chance the Department of Justice will break up the company following its antitrust probe. Morgan Stanley’s $110 price target implies the stock, which is up 33.4% year to date, has 18% upside after Friday’s close.
Those big gains from SiriusXM and Live Nation, as well as a 4.1% gain from Universal Music Group, one of the index’s most valuable components, helped the Billboard Global Music Index increase 2.2% this week to a record 1,522.78. Nine of the index’s 20 stocks finished the week in positive territory, 10 stocks lost ground and one was unchanged.
Other indexes soared this week after the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates unchanged on Wednesday (Dec. 13) and indicated it would cut interest rates three times in 2024. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite set a record closing price of 14,813.92 on Friday, marking a 2.8% gain for the week. The S&P 500 is still 2% away from its high mark after finishing the week up 2.5% to 4,719.19. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 7,576.36. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index gained 1.8% to 2,563.56.
The Billboard Global Music Index’s second-largest increase came from Reservoir Media, which gained 15% to $6.82. The stock’s $6.89 closing price on Thursday was its highest since $7.06 on Feb. 16 and is 31.4% above its 52-week low of $5.19 set on Aug. 10. Chinese music streamer Tencent Music Entertainment gained 8.0% to $8.88.
Hipgnosis Songs Fund gained 4.9% to 0.701 pounds ($0.89) after the company announced on Monday (Dec. 11) the sale of 20,000 non-core music assets for $23.1 million. The proceeds will be used to pay down its revolving credit facility. On Friday, the company also announced the appointment of Christopher Mills as an independent non-executive director effective immediately. Mills, who has a reputation as an activist investor, is CEO/investment manager of North Atlantic Smaller Companies Investment Trust and founded Harwood Capital Management in 2011. Following the news, Hipgnosis Songs Fund shares rose 2.3% on Friday.
Music streaming company Anghami dropped 30.4% to $0.94, bringing its three-week decline to 66.5%. Other than Anghami, however, no other stock finished the week with a loss greater than 5%. iHeartMedia fell 4.9% to $2.52 and MSG Entertainment dropped 3.2% to $31.16.
SiriusXM will merge its publicly traded stock with a Liberty Media tracking stock to create a single, streamlined public stock, the company announced Tuesday (Dec. 12). The deal — a piece of financial engineering rather than an overhaul of the companies’ organizations — will create a new public company that continues to use the SiriusXM brand.
SiriusXM and Liberty Media laid out numerous benefits of the transaction: a simplified equity structure; enhanced trading liquidity; a larger float (a larger percentage of outstanding shares on the market); the elimination of a multi-class stock structure; greater strategic flexibility; and greater potential for inclusion in stock indexes.
Investors have had two ways of investing in SiriusXM: the SiriusXM stock that trades on the Nasdaq and Liberty SiriusXM Group (LXSM), a “tracking stock” created by majority shareholder Liberty Media. (A tracking stock is a stock that depends on the financial performance of a specific business unit or division.) LXSM accounts for 84% of SiriusXM’s 3.84 billion outstanding shares; SiriusXM’s public shareholders own the remaining 16%.
On Sept. 26, with SiriusXM’s typically stable stock price down 26% year to date, Liberty Media announced a proposal to merge the two stocks. As detailed Tuesday, Liberty will separate Liberty SiriusXM Group by creating “SplitCo,” which will holds all LXSM assets and liabilities. SplitCo will immediately acquire SiriusXM in an all-stock transaction to form “New SiriusXM” with one class of common stock. New SiriusXM is expected to continue to be traded on the Nasdaq under the familiar stock ticker SIRI.
Former LXSM shareholders will get 8.4 shares in New SiriusXM for each share of LXSM and will own 81% of the post-merger company’s outstanding shares. Former SiriusXM shareholders will own the remaining 19%.
The new company will have a leverage ratio of 3.9 at close and a target leverage ratio of 3.0 (net debt to earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization). New SiriusXM has secured financing commitments up to $1.1 billion to fund the refinancing of a LXSM loan and an exchangeable bond. The companies told investors share buybacks will take less priority until that target leverage is reached.
“This combination will create value for all stockholders by eliminating the tracking stock structure, enhancing liquidity and allowing former LSXM stockholders to participate directly in the ongoing performance of SiriusXM,” said Greg Maffei, Liberty president/CEO, in a statement. “SiriusXM commands the largest paid share-of-ear in the car and has proven itself as an incredibly successful and profitable business. We are confident SiriusXM will continue to create value by building on its resilient business model to execute its strategic initiatives.”
“We are pleased that the Special Committee of our Board of Directors has reached this agreement with Liberty Media, which will allow SiriusXM to enter its next phase of value creation,” added Jennifer Witz, CEO of SiriusXM. “In a highly fragmented audio entertainment industry, SiriusXM has differentiated itself as the leading audio entertainment provider by creating an experience centered on our high-quality, premium, human curated radio that is more relevant than ever. In doing so, we have built a profitable business that is poised for continued success.”
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024 and is subject to regulatory approvals and a majority vote of Liberty SiriusXM Group shareholders. The transaction has been approved by Liberty Media’s board, a SiriusXM special committee and SiriusXM’s board of directors. The deal will be tax-free to Liberty SiriusXM Group and SiriusXM shareholders, except for cash received instead of fractional shares.
SiriusXM’s stock price has dramatically improved since September thanks to news of the merger plan as well as a 10% increase in its dividend in October. Shares of SiriusXM rose 5.6% to $5.30 following Tuesday’s announcement, reducing its year-to-date deficit to 9.2%.
SiriusXM hosted an event in New York City on Wednesday (Nov. 8) in which the company unveiled a new-look version of its app, set to debut Dec. 14, while announcing a rebrand and a slew of new programming initiatives, including new channels run by John Mayer and Kelly Clarkson, among others.
In conjunction with the app, Sirius will also offer a streaming-only subscription tier for $9.99 per month, aimed at younger listeners who are interested in the service’s 400-plus channels of content and podcasts but don’t generally listen in the car, where Sirius has become dominant in recent years. The new-look app will include increased customization, a new playback experience, an audio library, a new home for its podcast content and improvements in search and discovery, executives stressed at the two-hour event.
The new channels will begin rolling out in the next few months, starting with Clarkson’s channel, called the Kelly Clarkson Connection, which will be available starting today. Clarkson appeared on stage at the event with her band and introduced her channel — which she said will be on Channel 12, as she isn’t a fan of odd numbers — that will include her music and a variety of other music she enjoys and is inspired by. To kick that off, she and her band performed a cover of Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” — which she said they just learned hours before — and her own “Since U Been Gone.”
New channels from Shaggy (Shaggy’s Boombastic Radio), who also appeared on stage, and Smokey Robinson (Smokey’s Soul Town) are also available beginning today. A limited-edition channel from Dolly Parton, Dolly Parton’s Rockstar Radio, will go online Nov. 15, while Mayer’s show, which will be available year-round and is called Life With John Mayer, is set to debut Nov. 22. A weekly show by James Corden and a new true-crime channel from Crime Junkies podcast host Ashley Flowers will also soon come online.
“The introduction of the new SiriusXM streaming experience marks a pivotal moment in our history, one that kicks off a new era of innovation at our Company,” SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz said in a statement following the event. “And this launch is just the beginning; we will continue to iterate and develop our product offerings throughout the next year and beyond as we strive to deliver our subscribers the best listening experience on the go, in the car, and wherever they choose to tune in. From can’t-miss live moments to the perfect soundtrack for any occasion, with the new SiriusXM, we are putting our differentiators at the forefront and welcoming in a new generation of listeners, bringing them closer to what they love.”
The event opened with Witz introducing the new app, before turning the stage over to Sirius’ biggest and longest-tenured star, Howard Stern, who spoke about his frustrations during his time on terrestrial radio that led to him taking a chance on the then-nascent Sirius 17 years ago. “Everyone said it’s gonna fail, you’re stupid, you’re ugly — and those were my parents,” he joked. “To me, SiriusXM was an oasis in a desert of censorship. … My mission is to convince audiences that radio is worth paying for, and I think that mission continues to grow. I think there’s a bright future for Sirius. I banked my career on it.”
In addition to Clarkson and Shaggy, the event saw cameos from Conan O’Brien, Andy Cohen, Maren Morris, Flowers and Kevin Hart, while Corden and Mayer appeared in short video segments. And it ended with a performance from Def Jam rapper Armani White, who performed his hit song “Billie Eilish.”
As part of the rebrand — which includes a new logo — executives also re-introduced Sirius’ dog mascot, named Stella, after the Dog Star constellation from which Sirius took its name. The company also announced a new partnership with Audible to share content beginning next year, as well as renewed partnerships with car manufacturers and hotel chains. Next year will also see the company bringing on 160 new artist DJs, including Olivia Rodrigo and Morris, among many others.
Shares of SiriusXM gained 20.1% this week following the company’s third-quarter earnings on Tuesday (Oct. 31) that showed the satellite radio company, which also owns music streamer Pandora, was more profitable despite flat revenue and small losses of self-pay satellite and Pandora subscribers.
Shares of SiriusXM rose to $4.95, its highest closing price since Aug. 3. With the help of a 155,000 increase in promotional subscribers, the company’s total satellite radio subscribers were flat at 34 million. Revenue was unchanged from a year ago at $2.27 billion, but SiriusXM’s net profit grew nearly 50% to $363 million.
Investors will be watching intently next Wednesday (Nov. 8) when SiriusXM unveils a new streaming app as well as in-car innovations and new programming. “This leading content and upcoming product upgrade will be paired with our unmatched business model, which we expect to continue delivering significant and growing free cash flow in the years ahead,” said CEO Jennifer Witz during Tuesday’s earnings call.
The 20-stock Billboard Global Music Index gained 6.9% to 1,394.40, its best week-on-week performance since the index gained 7% in the week ended Nov. 25, 2022. Last week, the index almost fell into correction territory — a 10% decline from its recent high — but this week’s gains reduced the deficit to the high of 1,447.32 (week ended July 21) to 3.7%.
Eighteen of the index’s 20 stocks finished the week in positive territory. Of the two stocks to decline this week, Hipgnosis Songs Fund dropped only 0.8% while Abu Dhabi-based Anghami fell 15.9%.
Led by SiriusXM, the index’s three radio stocks had an average weekly gain of 13.3%. iHeartRadio, the largest radio company in the United States, gained 16.8% to $2.50. The company will report quarterly earnings on Tuesday (Nov. 9). Cumulus Media shares improved 2.9% to $4.91. Additionally, the index’s four live music companies gained an average of 8%, while record labels and publishers as well as streaming companies had average one-week gains of 3.8%.
Round Hill Music Royalty Fund was removed from the index this week after the completion of its $468 million acquisition by Concord. At the acquisition price of $1.15 per share, the London-listed Round Hill Music Royalty Fund gave investors a 47.4% year-to-date return.
Stocks everywhere enjoyed a strong week as the U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, leading investors to predict the central bank would forgo further rate hikes. In the United States, the Nasdaq composite rose 5.9% and the S&P 500 gained 5.2%. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 rose 1.7%. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index gained 2.8%.
Live Nation shares rose 10.9% after the company’s third-quarter results on Thursday showed that the company hit all-time records in revenue and adjusted operating income (AOI). Total revenue reached $8.2 billion, up 32% year over year, and AOI rose 35% to $836 million. Ticketmaster revenue grew 57% to $833 million in the third quarter. Through mid-October, Ticketmaster sold 140 million tickets to Live Nation events — more than the 121 million sold in full-year 2022.
Even though consumers are feeling pinched by inflation, demand continues to be strong across venue sizes and geographies, according to president/CEO Michael Rapino. “I have weekly booking calls with the over 40 presidents around the world and we talk about from clubs up to stadiums and festivals,” Rapino said during Thursday’s earnings call. “We have not seen anything taper off in any sense.”
Other stocks surpassing a 10% gain were Chinese music streamer Cloud Music, which gained 12.7% to 96.35 HKD ($12.31), and New York-based Reservoir Media, which gained 12.1% to $5.95. Reservoir Media will release its latest quarterly results on Tuesday (Nov. 7).
