Universal Music Group has completed the €250 million share buyback program it launched in August – the last of three repurchases under a €1 billion share repurchase commitment the company set out in April.
UMG has spent EUR €999.2 million (USD $1.16 billion) on its own stock this year as a result.
Universal confirmed on Monday (September 7) that the €250 million program, the second of two open-market buybacks it has run this year, was finished.
The 2026 buyback sequence started on March 30, when UMG announced its first-ever share buyback, worth €500 million.
Chief Financial Officer Matt Ellis said at the time: “We currently see a meaningful dislocation in UMG‘s market valuation.
“Our strong balance sheet and cash generation gives us the flexibility to repurchase shares, while preserving ample capacity to invest in our growth strategy, and reconfirming our commitment to maintaining our credit ratings and our dividend policy.”
UMG then doubled its buyback commitment to €1 billion on April 29 – i.e. an additional €500M – and said it would sell half of its equity stake in Spotify to help pay for it.
The board “considers UMG‘s share price to be undervalued relative to its business performance and prospects,” the company said at the time.
Half of that additional €500 million authorization was deployed within weeks.
On June 4, UMG spent €250 million buying 14,156,285 shares from Pershing Square at €17.66 each in a block purchase.
The repurchase landed six days after UMG‘s board rejected Pershing Square’s USD $64 billion takeover proposal on May 29.
UMG confirmed on July 27 that it had completed the original €500 million program, having spent €499.2 million on 26,707,529 shares.
The latest €250 million program, which has now finished, launched on August 6.
The full €1 billion share repurchase commitment was not quite spent: the outlay came in some €813,000 short, because the first program closed marginally under its own €500 million cap.
Under the €250 million program just completed, UMG repurchased 16,552,027 of its own shares for €249,999,946.
In its closing week, from August 31 to September 4, the company bought 294,340 shares at an average price of €14.65 each, for a total of €4,311,034.
The program had been capped at 25 million shares and had been due to complete no later than September 10.
On UMG‘s second-quarter and first-half earnings call on July 30, Ellis set out the running total as it stood at the half-year mark.
“We bought back €485 million of shares as part of our first €500 million buyback program, which was completed during July, and €250 million from our second €500 million authorization to participate in the shares sold by Pershing Square in June,” said Ellis.
He continued: “While the share buybacks will ultimately be primarily funded by the sale of a portion of our Spotify shares, that share sale is still in process.
“During the first half [of 2026], we sold just under one-third of our planned 50% stake sale for gross proceeds of €403 million.”
UMG held 6,487,000 Spotify shares at the end of 2025 – a 3.10% stake, valued at €3.214 billion – and confirmed on April 29 that it would sell 50% of that holding.
On MBW‘s estimates, roughly $1 billion of the stake remained earmarked for sale as of early August.
UMG has committed to sharing the proceeds with its artists on a non-recoupable basis, a policy dating back to 2018 and to Taylor Swift.
MBW has previously calculated that artists could be in line for around $131 million of the €403 million ($467 million) booked in the first half.
UMG‘s financial net debt stood at €4.131 billion at the end of June, reflecting its acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings, the buybacks, and €514 million of dividend payments.
With all three repurchases now complete, any further buybacks would require a fresh program from UMG‘s board.
UMG has not announced one.
The company says it intends to use the repurchased stock to meet obligations under its 2022 Global Equity Plan and/or to reduce its share capital.Music Business Worldwide
