Warner Music Group intends to divest its EMP business, the European rock and metal merchandise e-retailer it acquired for USD $180 million in 2018.
The company disclosed the plan in its latest quarterly SEC filing, revealing that it signed a “non-binding letter of intent to sell its EMP business within [its] Recorded Music segment”.
EMP, according to the filing, was subsequently “classified as held for sale”.
WMG said in the filing that it expects to complete the sale in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, which is calendar Q1 2026. The expected completion date actually represents a delay from the company’s 2025 annual report, in which MBW spotted the company said the transaction was expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 (calendar Q4 2025).
The company has not disclosed potential buyers or expected sale proceeds for EMP within the filing.
The filing confirms MBW’s speculation in August 2025 about WMG’s potential plan to sell EMP.
At the time, the company revealed a pre-tax impairment charge on “long-lived assets associated with certain of [WMG’s] non-core e-tailer operations” – following what Warner describes as a “triggering event”.
As MBW noted at the time, in previous WMG annual filings, only one subsidiary is referred to as an “e-tailer”: EMP.
In WMG’s annual report for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, the company disclosed a $79 million impairment charge on EMP’s long-lived assets upon classification as held for sale.
In its latest quarterly filing, WMG recognised an additional $9 million impairment charge on EMP’s long-lived assets in the three months ended December 31, 2025.
WMG acquired EMP from private equity firm Sycamore Partners in September 2018 for $180 million.
Founded in Germany in 1986, EMP sells merchandise from artists including Twenty One Pilots, Panic! At The Disco, Metallica, Motörhead, Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, and The Doors.
The e-retailer also distributes products from entertainment brands like Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, gaming brands like Nintendo and PlayStation, and alternative fashion brands like Vans.
WMG confirming EMP’s status as a “non-core” asset tells its own story.
This potentially fits within WMG CEO Robert Kyncl‘s recently announced strategic cost-reduction plan, and his determination to focus on “core” music assets.
In July, Kyncl announced plans to reduce WMG’s annual costs by $300 million.
That target was broken down into $200 million from lay-offs ($170 million from redundancies and a further $30 million in related admin/real estate costs) plus an additional $100 million in “a decrease in SG&A expenses unrelated to headcount”.
Whole-asset sales are an obvious avenue to achieve the latter part of the plan.
In February 2024, as part of a previous restructuring program, Warner sold/shed its “owned and operated media properties” including UPROXX and HipHopDX, with Kyncl telling staff these brands “operate outside our core responsibilities to our roster.”
WMG reported last week that its overall revenues were up 7.1% YoY at constant currency to $1.84 billion in calendar Q4;
Recorded music revenues were up 6.6% YoY at constant currency to $1.48 billion.Music Business Worldwide
