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After a challenging four-week period that overshadowed some positive earnings reports and promising global economic indicators, shares in the music industry have seen a welcome rebound. This upturn comes in the wake of a broader economic malaise exacerbated by the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Canada, Mexico, and various European nations.
Tencent Music Entertainment experienced a notable surge in its stock, which rose by 11.6% to reach $14.00. This increase followed the company’s fourth-quarter earnings announcement, revealing a significant rise in both its subscriber base and subscription revenue. For the quarter, the streaming service reported revenues exceeding $1 billion, marking an 8.2% rise, while net profit jumped dramatically by 47.3%, totaling $284 million. The company also caught the attention of investors with the declaration of a dividend and a $1 billion share repurchase initiative.
The Billboard Global Music Index reflected this optimistic trend, increasing by 3.0% to 2,533.53. Out of its 20 constituent stocks, 12 showed gains, seven declined, and one remained stable. Following a decline driven by tariff implications, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite saw minor recoveries, with increases of 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 also broke a two-week losing streak with a modest 0.2% gain, while South Korea’s KOSPI composite index rose by 3.0%. Conversely, China’s SSE Composite Index dropped by 1.6%.
LiveOne, another player in the music streaming arena, saw its stock rise by 13.3% after announcing it surpassed 1.3 million subscribers and ad-supported users. Meanwhile, K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment was among the index’s top performers, with shares climbing 10.0% to 100,300 KRW ($68.46).
Several other companies that faced significant declines earlier in the month experienced rebounds this week. iHeartMedia’s share price increased by 9.3% to $1.76, reducing its year-to-date loss to 17.4%. Madison Square Garden Entertainment rose by 7.6% to $33.85, marking its first weekly gain in a month. Live Nation also ended its streak of losses, gaining 3.2% to $123.06.
SiriusXM, the satellite radio network, saw a 3.5% increase in stock value to $23.47. On a recent Thursday, the company announced the appointment of Anjali Sud, CEO of the on-demand video streaming service Tubi, as an independent board director. Despite a challenging year that saw a 39.5% decline over the last 52 weeks, SiriusXM shares have recently shown improvement, with a year-to-date rise of 5.0%.
In contrast, French streaming service Deezer experienced a 6.0% drop to 1.41 euros ($1.53) following its fourth-quarter earnings announcement, which revealed a 12% increase in revenue to $591 million, but a 3.1% decline in subscribers, reducing the total to 9.7 million. This drop was attributed to a rigorous cleanup effort that removed 500,000 inactive family accounts from the subscriber count. Despite this week’s losses, Deezer shares are still up 7.6% year to date.
The most significant setback of the week was felt by JYP Entertainment, which fell by 12.2% following its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings release. Although the K-pop company reported a 26.8% increase in revenue for the fourth quarter and a 6.2% uptick for the year, the operating profit saw a decrease of 2.6% in the quarter and a steep 24.3% annual decline. This downturn was attributed to a decrease in album sales, a shift towards management revenue, and the introduction of new artist lineups.
Source
www.billboard.com