Warner Music Group Corp.

Welcome to Warner Music Group's fourth quarter earnings call for the period and fiscal year ended September 30, 2025. At the request of Warner Music Group, today's call is being recorded for replay purposes. And if you object, you may disconnect at any time. Now, I would like to turn today's call over to your host, Mr. Kareem Chin, head of investor relations. You may begin.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Warner Music Group's fiscal fourth quarter and full year earnings conference call. Please note that our earnings press release, Earnings Snapshot, and Form 10-K are available on our website. On today's call, we have our CEO, Robert Kinsel, and our CFO, Armin Zerze, who will take you through our results and then we'll answer your questions. Before our prepared remarks, I would like to refer you to the second slide of the Earnings Snapshot to remind you that this communication includes forward-looking statements that reflect the current views of Warner Music Group about future events and financial performance. We plan to present certain non-GAAP results during this conference call and in our earnings snapshot slides and have provided schedules reconciling these results to our GAAP results in our earnings press release. All of these materials are posted on our website. Also, please note that all revenue figures and comparisons discussed today will be presented in constant currency unless otherwise noted. All forward statements are made as of today and we disclaim any duty to update such statements. Our expectations, beliefs and projections are expressed in good faith, and we believe there is a reasonable basis for them. However, there can be no assurance that management's expectations, beliefs and projections will result or be achieved. Investors should not rely on forward looking statements because they are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors that can cause actual results that differ materially from our expectations.

information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in our filings with the sec and with that i'll turn it over to robert thanks karim and hello everyone if you hopped on the call early you just got a taste of the range of our artist roster from the massive breakout track from somber to the latest chart toppers from cardi b and 21 pilots to the resurgent Google Dolls 1998 hit Iris, which currently sits in the global top 15 on Spotify. It's an incredibly exciting time to be at Warner Music Group. Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing landscape, we've improved our market share and delivered profitable growth, all while realigning our company to capitalize on the tremendous set of opportunities we have ahead. Our growth plan continues to bear fruit, and we've seen steady global market share gains over the past year. In the United States, we're up 0.6 percentage points over the prior year quarter, according to Luminate. Globally, our share of the Spotify top 200 has jumped by around 6 percentage points versus fiscal 2024, and for the entire quarter, we had the number two market share. Importantly, we're carrying this momentum into fiscal 26 as we continue to execute on our strategy. I'll dig into this in more depth, but first, let's cover our Q4 highlights. I'm pleased to say that we've seen acceleration on the top and bottom lines, driven by impressive performance across the company. Total revenue grew 13%, and on an adjusted basis, recorded music subscription streaming increased 8.4%. These results prove that our strategy is working. Let me paint you a picture from just a year ago, when both the industry and WMG were in much different place. A year ago, WMG was facing market share pressure. Today, we've laser focused our resources and investment on the highest return areas of our core music business. This has led to market share gains that have translated into strong measurable improvement in our financial performance. A year ago, the music industry was navigating the transition from just volume driven streaming growth to growth that is driven by volume and wholesale price increases. Today, our new agreements with key DSP partners better reflect music's ever growing value and provide greater certainty around our economics. A year ago, our operational structure wasn't optimized to navigate a more globalized and digital environment. Today, we focus and simplified our organization to deliver greater intensity and impact. I'm pleased with the progress that we've made, and I'm truly grateful to our leadership team and our operators across the globe and our amazing artists and songwriters for pushing WMG to new heights. All of these actions have better positioned us to execute quickly and effectively on the opportunities we see ahead and to maximize the value we deliver to artists, songwriters, fans and shareholders. Let's turn to the impressive run of hits we've been seeing with our new releases, as well as our catalog successes. On new releases, in September alone, we had back-to-back number one albums in two of the world's biggest music markets, thanks to Cardi B and Twenty One Pilots in the United States and Ed Sheeran and Biffy Clyro in the UK. On the international front, we had number ones in China, India, Finland, Italy and Spain, and on Billboard's Latin Airplay chart. And in a terrific vote of confidence, one of our legendary superstars, Madonna, has returned to where it all began for her, Warner Records, with a new album coming in 2026. The performance of our global catalog division in Q4 showcased our ability to revitalize our timeless legacy, making it relevant to a range of new audiences. A major highlight was the release of Buckingham Nicks, the long out of print 1973 album by Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. A targeted marketing campaign capitalized on fan demand, sending it to number 11 on the main Billboard album chart and number six in the UK. A remarkable achievement for an album more than a half a century old. Warner Chapel continued its resurgence with our songwriters contributing to seven of Luminate's mid-year top 10 most-trained songs in the world and in the United States. And multi-Grammy winner Amy Allen held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 songwriters chart for nine weeks in 2025. These Q4 success stories capped off a year of achievements. During fiscal 25, our recording artists set it up the Billboard Global 200 for 22 weeks. That's 42% share of the number one spot on the chart. With Atlantic, Warner Records, and Warner Chapel, harder than ever, we're delivering success across geographies and genres. Next, I'd like to cover our focus on increasing the value of music. Streaming's growth formula is made up of three components. market share, global subscriber growth, and wholesale price. Against the backdrop of healthy subscriber growth and a market share improvement, we've also made progress on wholesale price. Since the beginning of 2025, we've signed renewals with four of the largest DSPs. All of these deals have wholesale price increases, providing certainty around economics and setting up monetization models for the future use cases. A critical component of ensuring we grow the value of music is addressing the promise as well as the potential risks of generative AI. First, we need to acknowledge the reality that generative AI technology has arrived and it is not going away. So we need to be proactive and lean into the future. The music industry is no stranger to disruption. From the invention of the phonograph to the Napster era to the rise of today's streaming ecosystem, the introduction of new technologies over many decades has posed both challenges and opportunities. AI represents another defining moment. And as always, our focus remains on protecting the rights of our artists and songwriters, while simultaneously growing new revenue streams on their behalf. With this in mind, we've developed a set of principles that will govern how we engage with AI platforms. We will only make agreements with partners who commit to licensed models while securing economic terms that properly reflect the value of music. Crucially, our artists and songwriters will have a choice to opt in to any use of their name, image, likeness, or voice in new AI-generated songs. We believe that the combined power of our music with innovative technology will drive greater engagement and interactivity for fans and will result in significant incremental revenue over time. I'm pleased to say that we've already done deals with partners like Udio, Stability AI and Clay that are consistent with these principles that I just outlined. Our ability to sign three deals with three new companies in quick succession highlights the attractiveness of the music business and the opportunity to create value through new technology. These agreements enable us to get ahead of the game, ensuring that our artists and songwriters participate fairly in the AI revolution. As I mentioned earlier, we've taken major steps to optimize our organization to drive efficiency and effectiveness all while re-accelerating growth and gaining market share. Among our recent changes are some moves designed to foster closer collaboration. We've directly aligned Atlantic and Warner Records in the UK with their counterparts in the US, creating a more seamless transatlantic approach to breaking artists globally. In Italy, we've organized our operations into two frontline labels, Atlantic and Warner Records, mirroring the label structure in the US and the UK. We've also unified our Australasia and Southeast Asia businesses to create bigger opportunities in this region. Additionally, we streamline operations and strengthen impact for artists in Central Europe by merging Benelux with Germany, Switzerland and Austria. On the tech front, we've continued to modernize our infrastructure, including strengthening our global digital supply chain to position the company for further scale and growth. We've implemented tools to help artists and songwriters make faster, smarter data-driven decisions about their careers, as well as tools for employees to be better informed and more effective. Our emerging stars are building the catalogs of tomorrow, laying the foundation for future stability, while our recent superstar releases have set us up well for 2026. In Q1, we have highly anticipated new albums from Fred again, FKA Twigs, Not For Radio, Aya Nakamura, and Robert Plant, along with deluxe album editions from Ed Sheeran, Cardi B, and Pink Pantherous. We also have new singles from Charli XCX, Charlie Puth, Jisoo, Hilary Duff, Tiesto, Alex Warren, David Guetta, and Teddy Swins, and many, many more. We're proud of the progress we've made in 2025, and I look forward to carrying this momentum into 2026 and beyond. And now I'll pass it over to Armin.