From Believe’s $800m in annual revenues to HYBE ending its SM Entertainment takeover bid… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up

Welcome to Music Business Worldwide’s weekly round-up – where we make sure you caught the five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximise their income and reduce their touring costs.

A corporate saga gripping the music business in South Korea entered its latest phase this week, as music giant HYBE officially ended its attempt to take over its rival, SM Entertainment.

The K-pop company said in a statement that it was suspending its acquisition bid, for a 40% stake in SM, following a discussion with tech firm Kakao – its rival bidder in the SM takeover process.

On Sunday (March 12), HYBE officially pulled out of the battle for control of SM, issuing a statement that reads: “HYBE made this decision after observing that the market has been showing signs of overheating due to competition with both Kakao and Kakao Entertainment.”

Elsewhere, SM Entertainment revealed, via an investor presentation setting out its global expansion and investor strategy, that it plans to acquire a music company in the US to speed up its global expansion.

SM says it is currently “reviewing companies appropriate for SM’s genre spectrum” in the US and is looking to expand into hip-hop and R&B.

Meanwhile, Paris-headquartered music company, and TuneCore owner, Believe, published its full-year financial results for 2022 (its second set of full-year results since floating on the Paris Euronext in 2021). The company generated annual revenues of €760.8 million (USD $800m).

Plus, Midia Research estimated that global recorded music revenues grew 6.7% YoY in 2022 to reach  $31.2 billion, while SESAC Music Group acquired content management, analytics, delivery and distribution tech provider AudioSalad.

Here’s what happened this week…

1) HYBE PULLS OUT OF BID TO ACQUIRE 40% STAKE IN SM ENTERTAINMENT: ‘THE MARKET HAS BEEN SHOWING SIGNS OF OVERHEATING DUE TO OUR COMPETITION WITH KAKAO.’

HYBE, the South Korea-headquartered music giant, has officially ceased its attempt to acquire a 40% stake in rival K-pop company, SM Entertainment.

HYBE said in a statement on Sunday (March 12) that it was suspending its acquisition bid following a discussion with tech firm Kakao – its rival bidder in the SM takeover process.

HYBE last month acquired a 14.8% stake in SM Entertainment, for around USD $335 million, via the acquisition of shares from Lee Soo-man, SM Entertainment’s estranged founder.

HYBE subsequently made its intention public to acquire an additional 25.2% of SM Entertainment’s shares – which would have taken HYBE’s total shareholding up to 40% – via a tender offer to SM’s minority shareholders.

If successful, the move would have seen HYBE spend another ≈$565 million on SM shares…

2) HYBE’S NOT THE ONLY K-POP GIANT EYEING THE US: SM ENTERTAINMENT PLANS $150M STATESIDE ACQUISITION TO SPEED UP GLOBAL EXPANSION

SM Entertainment has revealed, via an investor presentation, that it plans to acquire a music company in the US to speed up its global expansion.

SM says it is currently “reviewing companies appropriate for SM’s genre spectrum” in the US and is looking to expand into hip-hop and R&B.

The company says that it plans to spend 200 billion South Korea Won on this investment strategy, which converts at current exchange rates to around USD $150 million.

That could mean a few things, for example, that SM is willing to spend up to $150 million on one company, or it could be planning to spread out that investment allocation amongst those three to five companies under review.

Either way, this news will undoubtedly fire up the music industry rumor mill about who SM’s acquisition target, or targets, could be…

3) BELIEVE GENERATED $800M IN ANNUAL REVENUES IN 2022, UP 31.8% YOY

Paris-headquartered music company Believe generated annual revenues of €760.8 million in 2022.

That revenue figure converts to USD $800 million (at average annual exchange rates as per the IRS).

The company’s full-year financial results (its second set of full-year results since floating on the Paris Euronext in 2021) were published on Wednesday, (March 15)…

4) GLOBAL RECORDED MUSIC REVENUES REACHED $31.2BN IN 2022, BUT YOY GROWTH SLOWED ‘SIGNIFICANTLY’ (REPORT)

The streaming-led global recorded music industry might be resilient in the face of macroeconomic uncertainty, but it’s definitely not immune.

That’s the key takeaway from a new report from Midia Research, which estimates a dramatic deceleration in recorded music growth last year.

According to the report, published on Thursday (March 16), global recorded music revenues grew just 6.7% YoY in 2022 to reach USD $31.2 billion….

5) SESAC MUSIC GROUP ACQUIRES DISTRIBUTION AND CONTENT DELIVERY PLATFORM AUDIOSALAD

SESAC, the Nashville-headquartered music licensing/collection society, has acquired New York-based content management, analytics, delivery and distribution tech provider AudioSalad.

AudioSalad will remain headquartered in New York under the leadership of CEO Iain Catling and CTO Deane Thomas and will continue to function as a standalone business within the SESAC Music Group.

SESAC acquired AudioSalad for an undisclosed sum…

MBW’s Weekly Round-Up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximise their income and reduce their touring costs.Music Business Worldwide