VEVO
Vevo CEO Rio Caraeff
Vevo, the music video service controlling much of YouTube's major music label videos, is about to be shopped around to potential buyers, and could be valued at as much as three times its gross revenue: close to $1 billion.
Earlier this year, Vevo hired Goldman Sachs and Raine Group, an M&A advisory firm, to begin talking to suitors interested in either a minority or controlling stake in the company, according to The Information.
Vevo is considered a hot commodity in the music industry - its major-label, artist-driven videos come with hefty advertising rates. This year, Vevo is projected to make about $350 million in revenue. It's consistently YouTube's most viewed channel by a long shot.
The company's potential buyers include Amazon, Yahoo, Dreamworks Animation, and Liberty Media. There are also interested financial investors - the Carlyle Group, which famously invested in Beats Electronics, and Peter Chernin, who has invested in AT&T.
Vevo's owners include two of the top music record labels: Universal Music Group, owned by Vivendi, and Sony Music Entertainment, in addition to Google and Abu Dhabi Media. Google's investment last year valued the business at $650 million, reports Quartz.
The Vevo news comes just after last week's $3 billion Beats purchase by Apple. A few weeks ago, rumors of Twitter purportedly considering buying SoundCloud surfaced, too. 2014 may be the year of corporate music industry purchases.