ICM Partners Sells 33% Interest at $450 Million Valuation

ICM Partners, which is one of the largest talent and literary agencies in the United States, have sold 33% of the agency for $150 million to a private equity firm called Crestview Partners. The deal values the company at $450 million. Interestingly, no…

Redeye Acquires Border Music

North American independent music distributor Redeye Worldwide has announced that they have acquired Border Music, which is a music distribution company based in Sweden. The announcement was made at the company’s annual Label Hang event in Hillsbo…

Tencent Reportedly Plunking $2 Billion on ByteDance Rival Kuaishou

It is being reported that Chinese conglomerate Tencent is investing $2 billion in Kuaishou, which owns a short video platform similar to ByteDance’s Douyin. Kuaishou was launched in 2011 by Su Hua, who is also the founder and CEO of Kuaishou Tech…

Germany’s GEMA Acquires a Majority Stake In Digital Distributor Zebralution

In an unusual move, the German rights collection agency GEMA has acquired a majority interest in Zebralution, which is a digital distribution company. Currently, GEMA has nearly 75,000 members, which includes composers, lyricists, and publishers. It fu…

Viagogo’s $4 Billion StubHub Acquisition Faces a Serious Regulatory Challenge

The FanFair Alliance has filed an official complaint with the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) relating to Viagogo’s $4 billion purchase of StubHub from eBay. In 2016, the FanFair Alliance was formed. Since then, they have fought l…

Hasbro’s $4 Billion Peppa Pig Takeover Is Drawing UK Regulator Scrutiny

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the United Kingdom is investigating the $4 billion acquisition of Entertainment One by Hasbro. In August, Hasbro acquired Entertainment One, which is also known as eOne and which owns a diverse set of prop…

Live Nation’s Acquisition of MCD ‘Does Not Raise Competition Concerns’

The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally approved Live Nation’s acquisition of MCD Productions, which is a leading Irish music promoter. In August of last year, LN-Gaiety Holdings Limited, which is a jo…

Anthem Entertainment Acquires a Trove of Hits from Boardwalk Music Group

On October 29th, Anthem Entertainment acquired from Boardwalk Music Group a catalog that includes songs from Halsey, Meghan Trainor, Lizzo, Leon Bridges, Jason Derulo and Pitbull. The songs, which were written by Eric Frederic (Ricky Reed), include the…

For Sale: 10% of Universal Music Group. Price: $3.3 Billion O.B.O.

Universal Music Group is having a very good year, and it might just get better. For those warning of an industry slowdown, Universal Music Group would beg to differ.   The mega-label just released its year-to-date earnings for the first 9 months of 201…

Silver Lake Acquires Australia’s TEG — With Big Plans to Broaden the Operation

Earlier today (October 4th), Silver Lake, which is a technology investment company based in Silicon Valley with more than $43 billion assets under management, acquired TEG, which is one of Australia’s largest ticketing and live performances companies. …