WBD ‘sells’ music for $1bn
February 3, 2025

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) is making $1 billion (€0.98bn) through the creation of a joint venture that will own and manage its 100 years of film and television music. The sale of the library will raise money for WBD as chief executive David Zaslav seeks to boost the company’s share price and cut its debt.
The music rights will be sold into a joint venture with UK-based Cutting Edge Group, a music financier and publisher, which will invest money into acquiring part of the portfolio and managing the assets. German asset manager DWS is co-investing in the transaction.
CEG will be tasked with ensuring that royalties are being paid around the world, as well as seeking to drive income from the music through licensing deals. The vast majority of the revenues from the more than 400,000 compositions and song cues will be from the public performance rights, taking a fee every time one of the movies or TV shows is viewed around the world.
The companies said creating the joint venture would be one of the largest music rights transactions by value. WBD will retain creative and operational control of the music.
The portfolio also includes music from movies such as The Lord of the Rings franchise, Rebel Without a Cause and Blade Runner, as well as TV shows including Game of Thrones, Succession and The West Wing.