Steve Cooper to Step Down as Warner Music Group CEO

variety.com:

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSteve Cooper, CEO of Warner Music Group for the past 11 years, will step down next year, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal that was confirmed to Variety by a rep for the company.The transition will be a gradual one, the rep emphasized, as the company seeks a suitable successor.Warner is the third-largest major music group, after Universal and Sony, and Cooper has run it with a firm, calm and non-flamboyant hand through the first decade of the streaming era and as it went public for a second time in the early months of the pandemic in 2020.

The company earnings were declining at the time of his arrival and he not only reversed that trend but doubled its revenue and embraced new technologies and business opportunities.

However, his successor will face headwinds as the company’s stock has dipped since it went public, and the industry faces a leveling-off of streaming growth amid an uncertain larger economic climate.

Cooper, 75, said he has instructed the board to begin the search for his successor, and that he and the board expect the transition to take place by the end of 2023, according to an email viewed by Journal.The new CEO must have the approval of billionaire Len Blavatnik, whose Access Industries controls Warner Music.