{
  "id": 19541727,
  "title": "Primary Wave and Kobalt CEOs Discuss Their Billion-Dollar Partnership — And Why ‘You’ll See a Lot More’ Consolidation in Music",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/11/primary-wave-and-kobalt-ceos-discuss-their-billion-dollar-partnership",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-11-11T19:40:31.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Billboard",
    "slug": "billboard",
    "url": "https://www.billboard.com/pro/primary-wave-kobalt-ceos-interview-billion-dollar-deal/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In February, it was reported that Primary Wave was on the verge of acquiring Kobalt, a leading independent frontline publisher, which was valued at around $7 billion. The deal was finalized in July, but details about its operation were scarce. At the time, it was revealed that Kobalt would remain separate from Primary Wave, which owned numerous music catalogs including those of Whitney Houston, Stevie Nicks, Bob Marley, and Prince.\n\nLarry Mestel, founder/CEO of Primary Wave, and Laurent Hubert, CEO of Kobalt, discussed the terms of their billion-dollar partnership for the first time on Billboard's podcast, On the Record. They explained the origins of the conversation, which began at a summer 2025 dinner hosted by Goldman Sachs. During this dinner, Jenny Kim, Goldman Sachs' head of music, suggested that Primary Wave consider Kobalt as an acquisition partner. Mestel, who values administration-agnosticism, found a cultural alignment with Hubert, leading to the consideration of the acquisition.",
  "summary": "In the latest episode of Billboard On the Record, Larry Mestel and Laurent Hubert talk about Primary Wave's acquisition of Kobalt publicly for the first time.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}