Music Industry Moves: Warner Music Group Hires Goldman Sachs’ Michael Ryan-Southern as Executive VP of Corporate Development

variety.com:

Warner Music Group (WMG) has elected Michael Ryan-Southern to the newly created position of executive vice president of corporate development.

Ryan-Southern, who will assume the role starting Aug. 5, is leaving his position as global head of music and live entertainment investment banking at Goldman Sachs to join WMG, leading the search in mergers and acquisitions for the global music company.

In his new role, Ryan-Southern will work to identify and acquire companies and catalogs, reporting directly to WMG CEO Robert Kyncl.

He will be based at the company’s New York headquarters. “The market is filled with opportunities, in both recorded music and music publishing, and across different geographies,” said Kyncl. “We’re bullish on the long-term value of music, and having someone with Michael’s domain expertise and wide-ranging network run point on M&A will supercharge our efforts.” “This is an incredibly exciting time to be in the music industry, and WMG’s entrepreneurial spirit and tech-forward approach make it a tremendously welcoming environment for both artistic creativity and business innovation,” said Ryan-Southern. “I’m excited by Robert and the team’s vision for the company, and I’m looking forward to working with him and the entire WMG team to help grow and evolve the company into the future.” Prior to joining Goldman in 2021, Ryan-Southern spent eight years in senior leadership positions among a number of Mubadala Capital and Mubadala Investment Company portfolio companies including deputy CFO at EMI Music Publishing and president of the Hakkasan Group. + Peter Shapiro and Dayglo Presents have hired Jesse Lauter as head of production and media.