Warner Music Group
 |
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| Industry | Music, entertainment |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1958 (as Warner Bros. Records) |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, United States |
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Key people
|
Stephen Cooper (CEO) |
| Revenue | US$2.87 billion (2013) |
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Number of employees
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3,550 (2012) |
| Parent |
Warner Bros. (1958–1967) Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (1967–1969) Kinney National Company (1969–1972) Warner Communications (1972–1990) Time Warner (1990–2004) Independent (2004-2011) Access Industries (2011–present) |
| Website | www |
Warner Music Group (abbreviated as WMG, commonly referred to as Warner Music) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "big three" recording companies and the third largest in the global music industry, next to Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME), being the only American music conglomerate worldwide. Formerly owned by Time Warner, the company was publicly traded on the until May 2011, when it announced its privatization and sale to Access Industries, which was completed in July 2011. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs in excess of 3,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world.
The company owns and operates some of the largest and most successful record labels in the world, including its flagship labels Warner Bros. Records, Parlophone and Atlantic Records. WMG also owns Warner/Chappell Music, one of the world's largest music publishers.
The film company had no record label division at the time and one of its contracted actors, Tab Hunter, scored a hit song for Dot Records, which was a division of rival Paramount Pictures. In order to prevent any repetition of its actors recording for rival companies, and to also capitalize on the music business, Warner Bros. Records was created. In 1963, Warner purchased Reprise Records, which had been founded by Frank Sinatra three years earlier so that he could have more creative control over his recordings. With the Reprise acquisition, Warner gained the services of Mo Ostin, who would be mainly responsible for the success of Warner/Reprise.
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