{"id":92818,"date":"2022-09-08T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/?p=92818"},"modified":"2022-09-08T11:01:11","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T10:01:11","slug":"kobalt-music-group-sold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/kobalt-music-group-sold\/","title":{"rendered":"Kobalt Music Group sold for a total of $1.2 billion to US-based Francisco Partners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Image Credit: One EDM<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 style=\"user-select: auto;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff; user-select: auto;\">Kobalt has confirmed that Francisco Partners (FP) is acquiring a majority stake in its business.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Francisco Partners (FP) is a private equity company focused on investmenting in technology-enabled businesses such as Kobalt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FP\u2019s controlling stake in Kobalt will equate to around 90% of the music company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, two new co-investors will each acquire minority stakes in Kobalt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Matt Pincus\u2019s MUSIC. <\/li><li>Dundee Partners. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>(Pincus will join the Board of Kobalt post the deal closing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Willard Ahdritz, Kobalt&#8217;s founder, will keep a minority stake in Kobalt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Francisco Partners&#8217; buyout of Kobalt is worth approximately $750 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But this sale only includes Kobalt&#8217;s assets as they stand today: <strong>Kobalt Music Publishing<\/strong>&nbsp;and its global digital collection society <strong>AMRA<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, last year Sony Music bought two businesses from Kobalt Music Group for a total of $430 million. These included recorded music platforms&nbsp;<strong>AWAL<\/strong> and <strong>Kobalt Neighbouring Rights<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore Kobalt Music Group&#8217;s assets have been sold for a total of $1.2 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the sale of AWAL and Kobalt Neighbouring Rights, Kobalt Music Group began to focus more on Kobalt Music Publishing and AMRA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreover, after the Francisco Partners deal, Willard Ahdritz is set to remain as Kobalt\u2019s Chairman. And the company&#8217;s team of executives will remain as it did before the FB deal &#8211; Laurent Hubert (CEO), Jeannette Perez (President and COO), Catrin Drabble (CFO), and Nuno Guerreiro (CTO) will all retain their positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Kobalt has been an agent of change and innovator for the past 20 years, and as a result, we have built an extraordinary brand and creative destination for the best creators in the world. We look forward to working with Francisco Partners to embark on Kobalt\u2019s next innovation chapter.<\/p><cite>Kobalt CEO, Laurent Hubert  <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Kobalt has said that FP\u2019s investment will \u201csupport furthering AMRA, enriching Kobalt\u2019s technology innovation, and expanding Kobalt\u2019s footprint as the leading independent global music publisher\u201d in a press release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, Francisco Partners also acquired Native Instruments&nbsp;for an undisclosed fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\" class=\"underline\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ready for the world to hear your music? Distribute your music your way with RouteNote &#8211; FOR FREE! We&#8217;ll distribute your music globally and you&#8217;ll keep 85% of all revenue.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kobalt has confirmed that Francisco Partners (FP) is acquiring a majority stake in its business. FP\u2019s controlling stake in Kobalt will equate to around 90% of the music company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":92820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6203],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.4.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Kobalt Music Group sold for a total of $1.2 billion to US-based Francisco Partners - RouteNote Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/kobalt-music-group-sold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kobalt Music Group sold for a total of $1.2 billion to US-based Francisco Partners - RouteNote Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kobalt has confirmed that Francisco Partners (FP) is acquiring a majority stake in its business. FP\u2019s controlling stake in Kobalt will equate to around 90% of the music company.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/kobalt-music-group-sold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RouteNote Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-08T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-08T10:01:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Kobalt-Music-Group-sold-for-a-total-of-1.2-billion-RouteNote-Blog.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Connor Edney\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"RouteNote\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/\",\"sameAs\":[],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/routenote-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/routenote-logo.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"RouteNote\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"RouteNote Blog\",\"description\":\"The World of Digital Music - 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