Outgoing Warner Music exec Max Lousada, who’s selling millions in company stock ahead of his departure. Photo Credit: WMG
About five weeks after Warner Music unveiled a far-reaching restructuring, outgoing recorded music CEO Max Lousada is cashing in with massive stock sales.
DMN identified those stock sales in newly-submitted SEC disclosures, after the multi-decade Warner Music exec’s departure came to light towards August’s beginning. Set to step away from the major label on September 30th (the fiscal year’s end) while remaining aboard in an advisory capacity until January 31st, Lousada first signed on with WMG’s East West Records back in 1998.
And predictably, the higher-up, who’s headed the all-important recorded music division since 2017, has accumulated sizable Warner Music Group stock holdings during his time with the business. We’re now learning the precise extent of said holdings, from which Lousada sold shares in multiple trades between September 3rd and yesterday, September 10th.
Of course, the exact price of Warner Music stock (NASDAQ: WMG) varied based on each sale’s timing. All told, though, 683,698 shares sold by Lousada at about $28 a pop fetched $19.19 million, according to the filings.
Meanwhile, per a different filing (this time a Form 144), which Lousada submitted on the 3rd, the higher-up appears to plan on selling additional shares. As laid out in that document, the longtime WMG vet intends to move 934,467 shares overall, dating back to September of 2021, for a total of approximately $26.40 million.
Although the outlined stock move is indicative of an intention to sell – not, like for the almost 684,000 shares noted above, confirmed transactions – the available evidence suggests we’ll see more sales from Lousada in the not-so-distant future.
As of yesterday, Lousada acknowledged holding 2.29 million shares yet. However, the total encompasses restricted stock units as well as 1.74 million deferred equity units that will be settled “on a one-for-one basis” for common shares by the end of 2025, according to the filings.
Also stepping away from Warner Music Group in the wake of the U.S. restructuring is Julie Greenwald. Despite having been elevated to chair of Atlantic Music Group in the sweeping shakeup, the roughly two-decade Atlantic vet subsequently opted to exit the Robert Kyncl-led business, reports relayed last month.
But that departure isn’t expected to arrive until January of 2025, with the exec reportedly serving in a scaled-down advisory role in the interim. At the time of this writing, regulatory filings didn’t show any recent WMG stock sales from Greenwald.
