Vivendi's UMG Reportedly Worth $22B

Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest music label, is worth a stunning $22 billion, the French owner of the label said Tuesday.

Most on Wall Street had pegged the value of Universal, home to Selena Gomez, U2, Drake and Lady Gaga, among many others, at closer to $13 billion.

According to the NYPost,  Universal’s sales have been improving and a music industry tracker confirmed on Tuesday that total worldwide music revenue, aided by a rapid rise in streaming, leaped by 6 percent in 2016, to $15.7 billion.

Vivendi, the Paris-based media conglomerate that owns stakes in pay-TV and telecom firms across Europe, has been under pressure to spin off at least a piece of UMG.

Vivendi’s estimate of UMG’s value came from investment bankers’ estimates of the label value.

The last major label to be acquired was Warner Music Group in 2012. It cost owner Len Blavatnik $3.3 billion.  Around that time, UMG paid $1.9 billion for EMI’s recorded music business. Sony paid $2.2 billion for EMI’s publishing business.

Vivendi held its annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday and the company’s chairman and controlling shareholder, Vincent Bolloré, gave word about the new eye-popping valuation.