Warner Music Reports Mixed Quarterly Financials

UPDATED: The music major, owned by Len Blavatnik, posted lower revenue, but its loss narrowed, and digital revenue in the recorded music unit offset physical declines.

Len Blavatnik-owned Warner Music Group on Thursday reported mixed quarterly financials.

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The music giant posted a loss of $32 million for its fiscal third quarter, compared with a loss of $46 million in the year-ago period.

But revenue declined 5 percent to $654 million amid unfavorable foreign currency impacts. Assuming constant currencies, revenue was down only 1.2 percent.

Recorded music revenue dropped 5 percent as music publishing declined 4 percent. Major recorded music sellers included Linkin Park, Jason Mraz and Germany’s Die Toten Hosen.

WMG said its digital revenue rose 13 percent, or 16 percent assuming constant currencies, to $230 million. It said digital amounted to 41.5 percent of total recorded music revenue in the quarter.

"There were several bright spots in our results for the quarter,” said WMG CEO Stephen Cooper. "In our recorded music business, strong growth in digital revenue more than offset the decline in physical revenue on a constant-currency basis, showing the promise of the industry’s transformation."