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Universal Music Group history
Universal Music Group company history timeline
In the year 1935, the companies Greater New York Film rental and FOX office attractions Co. merged with the 20th century pictures and established the company 20th century FOX (20th Century Fox | Über Fox). The company is established on 31 May 1935.
Ltd. of England spun American Decca off in 1939.
In 1947, Reinhard Mohn re-founded the company.
The U.K.-based Decca Record Co., which launched Decca Records in the United States, acquired a controlling interest in Universal Pictures in 1952, while Music Corporation of America (MCA), acquired the Universal Studios property for its newly created TV division, MCA Inc.
In February 1953, Fox bought the right of a new projection system called CinemaScope, the company announced that all Fox pictures would be made in this process.
In 1955, the PTT became a state-controlled company again.
In 1956 Mr Zanuck F. announced his resignation as head of production.
The company was incorporated as MCA Inc. and it became a public company in 1959.
In 1961 the management changed, Darryl F. Zanuck was appointed as chairman and his son Richard Zanuck took on the role of president.
MCA Inc. merged with American Decca in 1962.
The year 1964 marked the beginning of MCA Music Publishing with MCA's purchase of Leeds Music and Duchess Music, while Universal began opening its Universal City lot doors for visitors, marking the birth of its recreation and theme park operations.
The year 1965 was surprising for 20th century Fox.
With more than 2 million subscribers, UMG also maintains the largest mail order music/video club in Europe, Britannia, a UK-based operation founded in 1969.
The company also operates DIAL, the largest music/video club in France founded in 1970.
In 1971 Mr Zanuck left the position as a chairman and a few bad years followed resulting in some losses.
The company opened the Universal Amphitheatre in 1972, initiating the company's interests in owning and operating concert venues and live entertainment promotion.
The company reorganizes as PolyGram in 1972, the same year they acquired Verve Records
In 1978 the control of the company passed to investors Marc Rich and Marvin Davis.
In 1979 Bertelsmann started to expand internationally.
The company expanded throughout the 1980s, first acquiring the London-based classical music label Decca in 1980.
Since 1985 the company is a subsidiaries of the News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch is the head and owner of 20th Century Fox.
Philips gained full ownership of subsidiary PolyGram in 1987.
KPN was privatized in 1989. (Juridische structuur – KPN)
In November 1990, Japanese multinational conglomerate Matsushita Electric agreed to acquire MCA for $6.59 billion.
In 1995 the company moved into Latin America when it bought Rodven Records, the region's largest independent record company.
In 1995, Seagram acquired 80 percent of MCA from Matsushita.
On December 9, 1996, the company was renamed Universal Studios, Inc., and its music division was renamed Universal Music Group; MCA Records continued as a label within the Universal Music Group.
In 1996 PolyGram acquired another 10 percent of Def Jam.
Fondation Vivendi Universal in France was created in 1996 to aid in the causes of unemployment and inequality of opportunity.
The sales in 1997 have been $5.58 billion.
The company's long and varied history can be understood by tracing the evolution of the two main companies that eventually came together in 1998 to form UMG, Polygram and Universal.
In 1998 Thomas Middelhoff became CEO of Bertelsmann.
In 1999 the UM3 was launched, UM3 is a division of Universal Music International that covers all areas of strategic catalog marketing outside North America.
In 1999, Bertelsmann introduced bol.com.
Universal launched its "Universal Best" campaign, running from June to August 2001, which offered music fans a selection of 40 "Best Of" albums from a wide variety of artists in diverse genres at discounted prices.
"universal purchases tropical indie rmm." billboard, 7 july 2001.
"bronfman, vivendi look forward." billboard, 22 december 2001.
Revenues for 2001 were down 6.6 percent from the previous year at $6.5 billion euro, which translates to about $5.8 billion.
Analysts estimate that music sales were off 10 percent in 2001, with poor sales in the largest two markets, the United States and Japan.
MP3.com, acquired in 2001, contained more than 1.2 million song and audio files, 185,000 artists, and had 5 million visitors.
Over the following five years, its funding created or maintained 18,000 jobs in local services—1,377 jobs created in 2001 alone.
UMG is the leading global music company, enjoying a 22.7 percent share of the world market in 2001 and operations in 63 countries worldwide.
One of every four albums sold worldwide in 2001 was a Universal album.
"universal music enterprises and disc marketing, inc. join forces in the cd music premium market." pr newswire, 23 may 2002.
The company attributes this to a lighter release schedule than the previous year, with most of its major releases due out in the latter part of 2002.
Clearly a world leader in the field, UMG's financial performance for the first quarter of 2002 represented a decline of 6 percent.
Artist development will also be key for the company moving into 2002 and beyond as the overall slump in the music industry forces the company to come up with "the next big thing" that will stimulate record sales in the United States and worldwide.
vivendi universal home page, 2002. available at http://www.vivendiuniversal.com.
In May 2004, Universal Music Group was cast under separate management from Universal Studios, when French media conglomerate Vivendi sold 80% of the latter to General Electric, who subsequently merged it with NBC to form NBCUniversal.
Twitter was created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone and launched on 15 July 2006.
In June 2007, UMG acquired Sanctuary, which eventually became UMG's entertainment merchandising and brand management division, Bravado.
PTT Telecom became KPN. KPN won the International GTB (Global Telecoms Business) Innovation Award in September 2007 for the innovative strength of its new fiber-optic network.
In March 2008, Twitter registered 1.3 million users.
On October 1, 2008 Bertelsmann sold 50% of Sony BMG to Sony Corporation of America.
In 2008, Universal Music Group agreed to make its catalog available to Spotify, then a new streaming service, for use outside the United States on a limited basis.
In April 2010, The company’s first advertising platform is introduced, also called ‘Promoted Tweets’. The first promoted Tweet was by Advertising Age.
In June 2010, Promoted Trends is launched.
With Grainge's appointment as CEO at UMG, Max Hole was promoted to COO of UMGI, effective July 1, 2010.
The turnover of UMG in 2010 cost $5584 million.
Doug Morris stepped down from his position as CEO on January 1, 2011.
Grainge later replaced him as chairman on March 9, 2011.
In September 2011, Twitter counted 200 million users, of which were 100 million active users who log in once a month, and 50 million active users who log in every day.
KPN counted 31.084 employees in the Netherlands in December 2011.
Starting in 2011 UMG's Interscope Geffen A&M Records began signing contestants from American Idol.
In March 2012, the European Union opened an investigation into the acquisition The EU asked rivals and consumer groups whether the deal would result in higher prices and shut out competitors.
On August 20, 2012, Bertelsmann changed its legal form from “Bertelsmann AG” to “Bertelsmann SE & Co.
In November 2012, Steve Barnett was appointed chairman and CEO of Capitol Music Group.
In compliance the conditions of the European Commission after purchase of EMI, Universal Music Group sold the Mute catalogue to the German-based BMG Rights Management on December 22, 2012.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster and is the largest broadcaster in the world with around 23.000 employees and an income of £5.086 billion in 2012.
Barry Weiss, who previously moved from Sony Music to lead Island Def Jam Music in 2012 when Motown Records was incorporated into Island Def Jam, stepped down from Universal Music.
Play It Again Sam acquired Co-Operative Music for £500,000 in March 2013.
In August 2013, UMG became the first company in the US to have nine of the Top 10 songs on the digital charts, according to SoundScan and weeks later, became the first company to hold all 10 of the Top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
Edel AG acquired the MPS catalogue from Universal in January 2014.
On April 1, 2014, Universal Music announced the disbandment of Island Def Jam Music, one of four operational umbrella groups within Universal Music.
Universal Music Group entered into film and TV production with the 2014 purchase of Eagle Rock Entertainment.
In 2015, UMG's Capitol Records earned all the major Grammy Awards for the year, with Sam Smith receiving Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year awards and Beck winning Album of the Year.
In May 2016, UMG acquired Famehouse, a digital marketing agency.
In November 2017, USC Annenberg announced UMG's partnership in the "Annenberg Inclusion Initiative", becoming the first music company to do so.
Furthermore, on December 19, 2017, UMG signed a multi-year licensing agreement with YouTube.
In December 2017, Universal Music Group acquired Stiff and ZTT labels, along with Perfect Songs Publishing, from Trevor Horn's SPZ Group; BMG Rights Management, through Union Square Music subsidiary, retained its back catalogues.
In June 2018, Universal Music Japan announced an exclusive license agreement with Disney Music Group.
In September 2018, singer Elton John signed a global partnership agreement with UMG across recorded music, music publishing, brand management, and licensing rights.
On November 19, 2018, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift signed a new multi-album deal with UMG, in the United States, her future releases will be promoted under the Republic Records imprint.
In August 2019, Tencent and Vivendi started negotiation to sell 10% Vivendi's stake of Universal Music to Tencent.
UMG was named by Forbes as one of America's Best Midsize Employers in 2019.
In February 2020, Vivendi announced it was planning to go public in an IPO within three years.
The company and Lego Group announced a music product partnership on April 26, 2020.
In July 2020, UMG signed a new multi-year licensing agreement with Spotify.
The deal collapsed in July 2021 due to regulatory concerns, and it was announced that Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings would complete the purchase instead.
In September 2021, IPO, Euronext Amsterdam announces an introduction price of €18,50 and Vivendi set an initial valuation for UMG at €33 billion ($38.3 billion). Vivendi distributed 60% of its UMG shares and retaining 10%.
In January 2022, UMG acquired the Icelandic record label Alda Music, which owned the rights to nearly 80 percent of all music released in Iceland.
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| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warner Music Group | 1929 | $6.4B | 5,500 | 146 |
| Atlantic Records | 1947 | $21.0M | 350 | - |
| Sony Music Entertainment | 1929 | $8.9B | 8,500 | 130 |
| Billboard | - | $1.8M | 6 | - |
| Interscope Records | 1990 | $7.1B | 8,319 | - |
| Warner Chappell Music | 1811 | $260.0M | 542 | - |
| ASCAP | 1914 | $140.0M | 630 | 17 |
| Allied Integrated Marketing | 1985 | $12.0M | 299 | - |
| Def Jam Recordings | 1984 | $25.0M | 125 | - |
| Capitol Records | 1942 | $900.0M | 3,000 | - |
Universal Music Group history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Universal Music Group, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Universal Music Group. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Universal Music Group. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Universal Music Group. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Universal Music Group and its employees or that of Zippia.
Universal Music Group may also be known as or be related to Decca Records (USA business) (1934–1971) MCA Records (1971–1989) MCA Music Entertainment Group (1989–1996), UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP, Umg Commercial Services, Universal Music Group, Universal Music Group Inc and Universal Music Group, Inc.