Not only is there a rapper "Big 3" (Drake, Kendrick, Cole), but there is also a label "Big 3" with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group.

Universal Music Group

Revenue: $14.7 Billion

Current CEO: Lucian Grainge

Notable labels: Republic, Def Jam, Interscope, Capitol

Here's who owns Universal Music Group:

Tencent (Led by the Chinese): Owns 20% of UMG

Bolloré family (Led by frenchman Vincent Bollore): Owns 18% of UMG

Vivendi (Led by Bolloré family ): Owns 10% of UMG

Pershing Square Holdings (Led by Bill Ackman): Owns 10% of UMG

Other shareholders: Own 42% of UMG

About the Owners:

Vincent Bolloré is a French billionaire businessman who took over his family-controlled conglomerate Bolloré, which deals in maritime freight and African trade.

He's a nepo baby who is also a well-known corporate raider in France who succeeded in making money by taking large stakes in French companies (ex. Bouygues) and leaving with a sizeable capital gain. Vincent has a 18% stake in UMG via his family company Bolloré SE. He retired from the family business in 2022.

Bolloré SE is a French conglomerate headquartered in Puteaux, on the outskirts of Paris, France. It was founded in 1822 and owned by the Bolloré family.

The company has interests in Vivendi, international freight forwarding, oil storage and pipelines in France, solid state batteries, access control systems for buildings, palm oil and rubber in Asia and Africa, olive groves in the US and wine production in France. The company is led by Cyrille Bolloré, the son of Vincent Bolloré.

Tencent is a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the world's largest company in the video game industry based on its equity investments.

In March 2020, Tencent acquired 10% of Vivendi's stake in Universal Music Group and then another 10% later. This was all part of a plan by Vincent (who owns a majority stake in Vivendi) to enter the Chinese market.

Bill Ackman is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who is the founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund management company.

PSCM acquired a 7.1% stake of Universal Music Group from Vivendi in August 2021 for $2.8 billion and currently owns 10%. Ackman has told his own clients that music is the cheapest form of entertainment in the world and a savvy investment because it pays royalties.

Sony Music Entertainment

Revenue: $8.8 Billion

Current CEO: Rob Stringer

Notable labels: Epic Records, Columbia Records, RCA

Here's who owns Sony Music Entertainment:

Sony Group Corporation (owned by multiple institutional investors like Vanguard Group and BlackRock): Owns 100% of Sony Music Entertainment.

Warner Music Group

Revenue: $6.43 Billion

Current CEO: Robert Kyncl

Notable labels: Atlantic Records, Warner Records, Elektra Records

Here's who owns Warner Music Group:

Access Industries (Led by Len Blavatnik): Owns 72% of WMG
Other shareholders: Own 28% of WMG

About the Owners:

Len Blavatnik is a Soviet/Ukrainian-born British-American businessman. He made his initial fortune, alongside other Russian oligarchs, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the privatization of state-owned aluminum and oil assets.

He bought Warner Music Group in 2020 for 3.3 billion and owns 72% of Warner Music Group via his privately held company, Access Industries Holdings. Blavatnik was cool with Edgar Bronfman Jr who then was the CEO of Warner Music Group after he bought a house from him. They developed a relationship and Blavatnik eventually bought a stake after having a board seat for 4 years.

Ice Cube

Im pretty sure ktt 2 owns the term big 3

We need a new big 3 of the big 3.

Lucian, Rob, and Rob.

ngl thought youll tie the whole thing together somehow but at least i didnt know about the universal being owned by a basically neocolonialist

Ice Cube

Who the CEO of universal? They mistaken
'Cause Google sayin' Lucian, but that just doesn't make sense
Who fillin' up the piggy bank? Who bringin' home the bacon?
This s*** don't come on vinyl, I'm still record breakin'

Drake won

Written like a fish who thinks he’s a shark

France, Ukraine and China won.

Crazy how Drake won

well given that the guy got his money through Russian oligarchy i don’t think Ukraine won this one

It's also crazy that Drake makes more money than Lucian (and that includes his total stock compensation)

Tencent owns everything don’t they also own fortnite or something

Lucian an abuser prolly

yea

they're also a majority owner in Riot Games, developer of League of Legends