Vivendi Shareholders Finally Hear a Sweet Tune
The deal to sell a stake in Universal Music Group to Tencent sets a floor on the value of the record label and its parent.
Does the big price tag indicate a new lucrative phase for music, or is it the peak?
Photographer: Patrick Hertzog and John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images
Vivendi SA investors should be sighing with relief.
The French media conglomerate announced on Tuesday that it plans to sell 10% of its Universal Music Group record label to a group led by Tencent Holdings Ltd., the Chinese internet giant. The 3 billion euro purchase ($3.4 billion) implies an equity valuation of 30 billion euros for all of UMG, as the music business is known. As my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Alex Webb wrote in August, Vivendi should gain strategic and financial advantage from the alliance with Tencent.