Confirmed: Sony Music paid Universal €102 million for stake in Todd Moscowitz’s Alamo Records

One of the biggest stories of the music industry last year was buy back the majority by Todd Moscowitz’s Alamo Records by Sony Music Entertainment.

New York-based Alamo was founded in 2016 and features broken artists including Blackbear, Lil Durk, and Rod Wave.

At the time that transaction went down, there were some conflicting reports from sources regarding the size of the transaction: Some sources suggest it could be as large as 250 million dollars In total, others said the suggested number was significantly higher than the amount Sony actually paid.

Now, we have confirmed some clarity about the deal, which was announced in June 2021.

Follow a line in Universal Music GroupMBW recently released annual financial report, Sony Music pays Sony Music €102 million to buy UMG’s interest in the Alamo.

At average currency conversion rates for June 2021 (via OFX), that number will be translated into USD 123 million dollars.

This USD conversion may not be perfect; if MBW had to bet, we would assume that it would indicate that 50% of Alamo’s equity was acquired by Sony from UMG for $125 million.

This is where things get interesting.

During Sony Music’s announcement of the deal last summer, the company confirmed that it had acquired majority shares of Alamo.

It is understood that Universal organized 50% ownership shares in the Alamo, with others 50% owned by Moscowitz in a joint venture agreement.

This means that Sony has acquired shares of UMG, plus equity from Moscowitz himself.

With our reasonable certainty that Sony has paid 125 million USD for 50% of the shares, we can confidently offer pre-trading valuations across the entire Alamo of 250 million dollars.

So what does this mean:

• If Sony buys 25% more from Moscowitz on the UMG piece (to bring up Sony’s total stake in Alamo 75%), Sony’s overall spending on the deal will be approximately $188 million.
• If Sony buys 30% more from Moscowitz (to bring Sony’s total stake in Alamo to 80%), Sony’s overall spending on the deal will be approximately 200 million dollars.
• And if Sony buys another 40% from Moscowitz (to bring Sony’s total stake in Alamo to 90%), Sony’s overall spending on the deal will be approximately $225 million.

Sony and Alamo Records recently scored a big hit in the US with Lil Durk’s 7220 album reached No.1 on Billboards 200 in March.

According to Billboard, in the opening week in the United States, the album has reached 120,500 album-equivalent sales.

The album features guest appearances from Future, Gunna, Summer Walker and Morgan Wallen.Worldwide music business