Warner Music Group
Recorded music and publishing group controlled by Access Industries, running Warner Music Africa and owning Africori outright.
- Based in
- New York, United States
- Website
- wmg.com
Warner Music Group is a recorded music and music publishing group headquartered in New York and listed on Nasdaq. Control sits with Access Industries, the holding company founded and chaired by Len Blavatnik. Robert Kyncl became chief executive on 1 January 2023 and remains in the role.
Warner Music Africa, founded in December 2013 as Warner Music South Africa and renamed since, is based in Johannesburg and led by managing director Temi Adeniji, who also runs Sub-Saharan Africa strategy. Under her the company launched Warner Music Africa Francophone in Abidjan, which has run its first songwriting camp in the city, and completed the acquisition of the Johannesburg distributor Africori.
Warner has taken the acquisition route into African music more directly than the other majors. It invested in Africori in 2020, took majority control in 2022 and completed full acquisition in February 2025. Separately, its subsidiary WEA International holds convertible term loans in the Nigerian group Chocolate City which a November 2023 London Commercial Court ruling confirmed can be converted into 60 percent of that company’s equity.
