Universal Music Group has reportedly generated around $467 million from selling part of its stake in Spotify.
UMG will split the proceeds between artists and the company. The company will direct its share toward its expanded stock buyback program.
UMG CFO Matt Ellis disclosed the figure during the company’s Q2 and H1 2026 earnings call on July 30.
Ellis told analysts that UMG had sold slightly less than one-third of the 50% stake it plans to divest during the first half of the year.
The transactions generated gross proceeds of €403 million.
The company originally announced plans to sell half of its Spotify holdings on April 29, alongside its Q1 financial results.
How Much Will Artists Receive?
UMG will split the proceeds between artists and the company. The company will direct its share toward its expanded stock buyback program.
Ellis previously said in April that UMG would handle the proceeds according to its existing royalty policies.
The clearest indication of the potential amount comes from investor Bill Ackman.
In a letter to UMG’s board on April 7 outlining Pershing Square’s takeover proposal, Ackman valued UMG’s entire Spotify stake at €2.7 billion.
He estimated that up to €750 million could go to artists. After taxes and artist payments, UMG would retain approximately €1.5 billion.
Based on those figures, artists could receive roughly 28% of the gross proceeds.
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The 2018 Clause Behind the Artist Payments
The policy can be traced back to Taylor Swift’s UMG contract from 2018.
At the time, Swift revealed that she had made a request regarding future Spotify share sales.
She wanted the proceeds to be distributed to UMG artists as non-recoupable payments.
Under a non-recoupable arrangement, artists receive the money without UMG first applying it toward any outstanding advances.
This means artists who have yet to recoup their advances can still receive a cash payment from the share sale.
Sony Music followed a similar approach in 2018 when it sold half of its 5.7% Spotify stake for $768 million.
Warner Music Group also exited its Spotify investment that August, selling its entire stake for $504 million and allocating 25% of the proceeds to artist accounts.
However, Warner did not exclude unrecouped balances from the calculation.
The policy also extends to UMG’s electronic music roster through imprints such as Astralwerks, the electronic label distributed by Capitol Music Group.
Remaining Stake of Universal Music Group at Spotify
UMG’s 2025 annual report showed that the company held 6,487,000 Spotify shares as of December 31, representing a 3.10% stake in the streaming platform.
The planned sale covers approximately half of that position, or around 3.24 million shares.
With slightly less than one-third of the program completed, UMG is estimated to still hold roughly 5.4 million Spotify shares.
Spotify closed at $480.05 on August 4, putting the value of UMG’s remaining stake at approximately $2.6 billion.
The figure remains well below Spotify’s 52-week high of $748.30.
UMG is also moving forward with its stock buyback plans. The company completed €485 million of the initial €500 million tranche in July.
In June, UMG used another €250 million from its second buyback authorization to repurchase shares from Pershing Square.
The transaction came after UMG rejected Ackman’s proposed $64 billion takeover offer.
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