Kevin Winter
Taylor Swift's record company, Universal Music Group (OTCPK:UMGNF) will lay off hundreds of employees in the coming weeks.
. Universal Music is the largest record company in the world (home to artists such as Adele and Billie Eilish) and had around 10,000 employees in the end of 2022.
“We continue to position UMG to accelerate its leadership in music's most promising growth areas and drive its transformation to capitalize on them,” a UMG spokesperson told Looking Alpha. “Over the past few years, we have been investing in future growth, building our e-commerce and D2C operations, expanding geographically and leveraging new technologies. While we maintain our industry-leading investments in A&R and artist development, we are creating efficiencies in other areas of the business so we can remain agile and responsive to the dynamic market, while realizing the benefits of our scale.”
The company's largest division, recorded music, will be the hardest hit, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter. The media outlet initially reported the layoffs.
stocks rose almost 2% on Friday.
Universal Music's revenue increased 3% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to growth of more than 13% a year earlier.
Chief Executive Lucian Grainge said on the company's most recent earnings call that the management team has experience in cost reduction.
“We've always had a program called where we cut to grow and cut to grow, meaning we cut overhead to grow elsewhere,” Gainge said. “And we have experience in managing businesses and managing teams and businesses within the group. And we have a plan.”
“We'll cut overhead to grow it elsewhere,” he said on the call.
Competitors are cutting staff, including Warner Music Group (WMG), which reduced its workforce by about 4% last year.
(This story has been updated to confirm the layoffs.)
