Universal Music Group banked gross proceeds of EUR €403 million (USD $467 million) from selling part of its Spotify shareholding during the first half of 2026.
On MBW‘s calculations, UMG artists could be in line for approximately $131 million of that money.
The sale figure was disclosed by UMG CFO Matt Ellis on the company’s Q2 and H1 2026 earnings call on Thursday (July 30).
Ellis told analysts that UMG‘s higher net debt in the first half – a result of closing the Downtown acquisition and running its share buyback program – had been “partially offset by the sale of a portion of our Spotify shares.”
“We bought back EUR €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 added: “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 EUR €403 million.”
That EUR €403 million converts to USD $467 million at the average European Central Bank exchange rate for the period from May 1 to June 30, 2026.
UMG has committed to sharing the proceeds of any Spotify stock sale with its artists, but has not stated what specific proportion they will receive.
In April, Ellis said payouts to artists from any SPOT share transaction would be “consistent with our royalty policies.”
MBW has previously estimated a likely artist share of around 28% of gross proceeds, drawing on numbers contained in Bill Ackman‘s takeover proposal for the company.
In an April letter to UMG‘s board, Ackman‘s Pershing Square estimated that – based on stock prices at the time – liquidating UMG’s entire Spotify holding would generate a gross windfall of about USD $3.1 billion.
Of that, said Ackman, just over half – $1.7 billion – would reach UMG “after taxes and net of the artists’ share of Spotify proceeds”.
Ackman‘s numbers implied an artists’ portion of around 28% of the gross figure, as previously reported by MBW.
Applied to the $467 million booked by UMG from Spotify stock sales in H1 2026, that same 28% share would equate to an approximate $131 million payout for UMG’s artists.
UMG has not said when its artists will receive their share of the H1 proceeds, or whether payments will be staged as the 50% sale progresses.
Any such payout would be made on a non-recoupable basis, meaning UMG would disregard artists’ unrecouped balances when distributing the cash.
That policy dates back to 2018, and to Taylor Swift.
Announcing her new UMG contract on Instagram in November 2018, Swift wrote: “There was one condition which meant more to me than any other deal point.
“As part of my new contract with Universal Music Group, I asked that any sale of their Spotify shares result in a distribution of money to their artists, non-recoupable.”
Added Swift: “They have generously agreed to this, at what they believe will be much better terms than paid out previously by other major labels.”
Both of UMG‘s major music company rivals cashed in Spotify equity in 2018.
Sony Music sold half of its 5.7% holding that year for $768 million, having also agreed to set aside artists’ unrecouped balances when paying out.
Warner Music Group sold its entire Spotify stake in August 2018 for gross proceeds of $504 million.
WMG credited 25% of that sum to artist accounts, but did not disregard unrecouped balances.
According to UMG‘s 2025 annual report, the company held 6,487,000 Spotify shares as of December 31 – a 3.10% stake in the streaming platform, valued at EUR €3.214 billion.
UMG confirmed on April 29 that it would sell 50% of that holding.
With just under a third of that program now executed, MBW estimates that UMG retains around 5.4 million Spotify shares, or approximately 2.6% of the company.
Based on Spotify‘s market capitalization of USD $98.32 billion at the close on Tuesday (August 4), that residual stake is worth approximately USD $2.6 billion.
Roughly $1 billion of that stake remains earmarked for sale in order to complete UMG‘s planned 50% disposal.
As Matt Ellis confirmed on last week’s call, UMG‘s proceeds from the firm’s 50% Spotify share sale are headed toward Universal‘s own stock.
UMG announced a EUR €500 million buyback program on March 30, then doubled the authorization to €1 billion, with shareholders approving the additional tranche at the company’s annual general meeting on May 13.
€250 million of that second authorization went on buying 14,156,285 UMG shares directly from Pershing Square in June, as the fund exited the company following UMG‘s rejection of its $64 billion takeover bid.
UMG generated revenues of €3.294 billion ($3.83 billion) in Q2 2026, up 13.3% YoY at constant currency.Music Business Worldwide
