Warner Music Group Corp (WMG) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to Warner Music Group's third quarter earnings call for the period ended June 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.

歡迎參加華納音樂集團截至2025年6月30日的第三季財報電話會議。應華納音樂集團的要求，今天的電話會議將被錄音，以便日後重播。如果您有異議，可以隨時斷開連接。

I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Mr. Kareem Chin, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin.

現在我將把電話交給主持人，投資者關係主管卡里姆·欽先生。你可以開始了。

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Warner Music Group's Fiscal third quarter earnings conference call. Please note that our earnings press release, earnings snapshot, and Form 10-Q are available on our website.

各位早安，歡迎參加華納音樂集團第三財季業績電話會議。請注意，我們的獲利新聞稿、獲利快照和 10-Q 表格均可在我們的網站上查閱。

On today's call, we have our CEO, Robert Kyncl; and our CFO, Armin Zerza, who will take you through our results, and then we will answer your questions.

在今天的電話會議上，我們的執行長羅伯特·金克爾和財務長阿明·澤爾扎將向大家介紹我們的業績，然後我們將回答大家的問題。

Before our prepared remarks, I'd 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.

在我們正式發言之前，我想請各位注意收益概覽的第二張投影片，提醒各位，本通訊包含前瞻性陳述，反映了華納音樂集團目前對未來事件和財務表現的看法。我們計劃在本次電話會議和盈利概覽幻燈片中公佈一些非GAAP業績，並在盈利新聞稿中提供了將這些業績與GAAP業績進行調節的附表。所有這些資料都發佈在我們的網站上。

Also, please note that all revenue figures and comparisons discussed today will be presented in constant currency unless otherwise noted. All forward-looking 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.

另外，請注意，除非另有說明，今天討論的所有收入數據和比較均以固定匯率表示。所有前瞻性陳述均截至今日，我們不承擔更新此類陳述的任何義務。我們的期望、信念和預測都是出於善意，我們相信它們有合理的依據。然而，並不能保證管理層的期望、信念和預測會實現或發生。

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 to differ materially from our expectations. Information concerning factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in our filings with the SEC.

投資人不應依賴前瞻性陳述，因為這些陳述受到各種風險、不確定性和其他因素的影響，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期有重大差異。有關可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中的結果存在重大差異的因素的信息，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Robert.

那麼，接下來就交給羅伯特了。

Thanks, Kareem, and hello, everyone. Before I get into our results, I'd like to formally welcome our new CFO, Armin Zerza, who joins us for his first earnings call. I look forward to partnering with him as we elevate WMG to new heights.

謝謝你，卡里姆，大家好。在介紹我們的業績之前，我想正式歡迎我們的新任財務長 Armin Zerza，他將首次參加我們的業績電話會議。我期待與他合作，共同將 WMG 推向新的高度。

I'm pleased to say that we've delivered a strong quarter marked by reacceleration of growth. This was driven by a sustained and impressive showing on the charts, which is now also beginning to translate into an improvement in our global market share, all of which underscores that our strategy is working.

我很高興地宣布，我們本季業績強勁，成長速度再次加快。這得益於我們在圖表上持續且令人印象深刻的表現，而現在這也開始轉化為我們全球市場份額的提升，所有這些都表明我們的策略是有效的。

I'll give you a brief summary of our results, and Armin will provide more detail. We saw a broad-based reacceleration with total revenue growth of 7%, reflecting growth across Recorded Music and Music Publishing. Recorded Music subscription streaming grew 8.5% adjusted for notable items.

我將簡要總結我們的結果，Armin 將提供更詳細的資訊。我們看到整體經濟全面復甦，總收入成長了 7%，反映了錄製音樂和音樂出版業務的成長。經過調整後，錄製音樂訂閱串流播放量增加了 8.5%。

As I've mentioned to you before, we're creating a virtuous cycle by putting more money behind the music while simultaneously becoming leaner and stronger. Our tighter focus is helping fuel our progress in three strategic priorities: growing our market share, growing the value of music, and increasing our efficiency.

正如我之前跟你提到的，我們正在創造一個良性循環，透過加大對音樂的投入，同時變得更加精簡和強大。我們更加專注，這有助於推動我們在三個策略重點領域中取得進展：擴大市場份額、提升音樂價值和提高效率。

I am pleased to say that we have tangible proof points in each area. I'll start with growing our share.

我很高興地說，我們在每個領域都有切實的證據。我首先要做的就是提高我們的市場佔有率。

During the quarter, we've grown our recorded music market share in key regions, including the US, where our market share increased roughly 1-percentage-point year-over-year per Luminate Data.

本季度，我們在包括美國在內的主要地區的錄製音樂市場份額有所增長，根據 Luminate Data 的數據，我們在美國市場的份額同比增長了約 1 個百分點。

We're achieving these gains by delivering the biggest hits in the world today, developing artists who will be the superstars of tomorrow and growing the popularity of our iconic catalog. Our recording artists held half of the top 10 on the Spotify global chart for 12 weeks and the number one spot for all but seven weeks of 2025. And right now, we have 7 of the top 20 spots on Billboard Global 200.

我們透過推出當今世界最熱門的歌曲、培養未來的超級巨星以及提高我們標誌性曲庫的知名度來實現這些成就。我們的錄音藝術家在 Spotify 全球排行榜前 10 名中佔據了一半席位，持續了 12 週，並且在 2025 年除 7 週外，其餘時間都位居榜首。目前，我們在公告牌全球200強榜單的前20名中佔據了7個席位。

We're also seeing great success from our breakout artists and an increasingly noisy and competitive environment, these new stars will highlight WMG's outstanding audit development capabilities. Atlantic's Alex Warren has held the number one spot on Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks and his album debut at number one in the UK, while Warner Record Summer reached number one on the Spotify global chart.

我們也看到一些嶄露頭角的藝人取得了巨大的成功，在競爭日益激烈的環境中，這些新星將凸顯 WMG 出色的審計開發能力。Atlantic 旗下藝人 Alex Warren 的單曲已連續九週蟬聯 Billboard Hot 100 排行榜冠軍，其首張專輯也在英國排名第一，而 Warner Records 的《Summer》則在 Spotify 全球排行榜上榮登榜首。

Teddy Swims, Benson Boone, and Rosé have all remained fixtures on the chart, showing the incredible staying power of the songs that captivate fans. Teddy's Lose Control released just over two years ago, has become the first song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to spend 100 weeks on the chart and still counting.

Teddy Swims、Benson Boone 和 Rosé 的歌曲一直穩居排行榜前列，展現了這些歌曲令人難以置信的持久魅力，深深吸引著歌迷。Teddy 的歌曲《Lose Control》發行於兩年多前，已成為 Billboard Hot 100 排行榜歷史上第一首在榜 100 週且仍在榜上的歌曲。

Outside the United States, we've had number one's from Niky Savage in Italy, (inaudible) in Denmark, Fadel Chaker in MENA and Eurovision Song Contest winner, JJ in Austria, among others. This is also representative of the progress we've seen on expanding our international market share.

在美國以外，我們曾有來自義大利的 Niky Savage、丹麥的（聽不清楚）、中東和北非地區的 Fadel Chaker 以及歐洲歌唱大賽冠軍奧地利的 JJ 等人獲得過冠軍。這也代表了我們在擴大國際市場份額方面取得的進展。

Warner Chappell continued its strong run as well with Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem holding the number one spot on the Billboard 200 album chart for nine weeks, Riley Green hitting the number one on billboard country airplay chart, and BLACKPINK's Diplo produced track JUMP debuting a top billboard Global 200.

華納音樂版權公司也持續保持強勁勢頭，摩根沃倫的《I'm the Problem》連續九週位居公告牌二百強專輯榜榜首，萊利·格林的歌曲榮登公告牌鄉村電台榜榜首，而BLACKPINK的迪波製作的歌曲《JUMP》首次登上公告牌全球200強榜首。

Today's hits will become the evergreen catalog of the future. Given that music over three years old represents roughly two-thirds of our recorded music streaming revenue, continued growth and revitalization is paramount.

今天的熱門歌曲將成為未來的經典。鑑於三年以上的音樂約占我們錄製音樂串流收入的三分之二，持續成長和復興至關重要。

I'll give you just a few examples of our always-on approach to catalog marketing. Veronica Electronica, a new album of Madonna's remixes has contributed to her career wide streams jumping 33% this fiscal year-to-date. The 25th Anniversary Edition of Slipknot's first album has helped drive an 11% increase in the band streams this fiscal year-to-date. And Fleetwood Mac's Rumours was the only catalog release on Luminate's midyear top vinyl album sales chart. We continue to find new ways to help longtime legends cut through the noise.

我舉幾個例子來說明我們全天候的目錄行銷策略。麥當娜的新混音專輯《Veronica Electronica》使她本財年迄今為止的職業生涯串流播放量增加了 33%。Slipknot 首張專輯 25 週年紀念版的發行，推動了樂團本財年至今的串流播放量增加了 11%。而 Fleetwood Mac 的《Rumours》是 Luminate 年中黑膠唱片銷售排行榜上唯一一張經典專輯。我們不斷尋找新的方法，幫助那些久負盛名的傳奇人物脫穎而出。

Last year, we revitalized our approach to the management and marketing of our so-called off roster catalog. This means we're now taking a fresh inventive and global approach to marketing audits we are no longer recording new music for us.

去年，我們改進了所謂「非名冊產品目錄」的管理和行銷方式。這意味著我們現在採取了一種全新的、富有創意的、全球化的行銷審計方法，我們不再為我們錄製新音樂。

As part of this effort, we brought on Orla Lee-Fisher in the new role of Head of Dual Catalog Strategy. She will lead campaigns for the many stars where we represent both their recoated music and publishing catalogs, including legends from Lez Zeppelin to David Bowie. At the same time, we're complementing our organic growth and the increase in the value of music through M&A activity, which will be accelerated by our recently announced $1.2 billion joint venture with Bain Capital.

作為這項工作的一部分，我們聘請了 Orla Lee-Fisher 擔任雙重目錄策略主管這一新職位。她將領導我們代理的眾多明星的宣傳活動，這些明星包括從齊柏林飛艇到大衛·鮑伊等傳奇人物，他們的作品涵蓋了重新包裝的音樂和出版目錄。同時，我們正在透過併購活動來補充我們的有機成長和音樂價值的成長，而我們最近宣布與貝恩資本成立的 12 億美元合資企業將加速這一進程。

Next, growing the value of music. The industry is increasingly focused on price driven growth, and we continue to see progress in aligning our contracts with streaming services with this new paradigm as we improve deal terms. Since February, we signed renewals with several major services that will provide greater certainty and visibility around our economics. We look forward to seeing the impact these deals will have in 2026 and beyond. In fact, you've seen Spotify announced price increases outside the US earlier this week reflective of the incredible value proposition that music subscriptions present.

其次，提升音樂的價值。該行業越來越注重價格驅動型成長，隨著我們不斷改進交易條款，我們也在努力使與串流媒體服務的合約與這種新模式保持一致，並持續取得進展。自二月以來，我們與幾家主要服務機構續簽了合同，這將為我們的經濟活動帶來更大的確定性和透明度。我們期待看到這些交易在 2026 年及以後產生的影響。事實上，你已經看到 Spotify 在本週早些時候宣布了美國以外地區的漲價，這反映了音樂訂閱服務所具有的巨大價值。

And as I've mentioned, we continue to work with our DSP partners on the design and implementation of super fan tiers, which demonstrate the opportunity to better monetize end. A critical factor in growing the value of music is to protect the rights of our artists and songwriters. We're committed to embracing AI in ways that benefit our artists, so eaters and the broader music community. At the same time, we continue our efforts to enable free market licensing for the training of AI models and to protect the visual likeness and voice of our artists from unauthorized defects.

正如我之前提到的，我們將繼續與我們的 DSP 合作夥伴合作，設計和實施超級粉絲等級，這展現了更好地實現終端盈利的機會。提升音樂價值的關鍵因素之一是保護藝術家和詞曲作者的權益。我們致力於以有利於我們的藝術家、食客和更廣泛的音樂界的方式擁抱人工智慧。同時，我們繼續努力實現人工智慧模型訓練的自由市場許可，並保護我們藝術家的視覺形象和聲音免受未經授權的損害。

Later this year, we expect Congress to consider legislation to implement the AI action plan released by the White House in July. While the plan's recommendations don't address either positively or negatively, the issues of greatest importance to us, we will remain highly engaged throughout the process. There is a broad policy alignment across the copyright industries, including the music industry, regarding the need to maintain strong intellectual property protections in the generative AI space.

今年晚些時候，我們預計國會將審議立法，以落實白宮7月發布的AI行動計畫。雖然該計劃的建議既沒有正面也沒有負面地解決對我們來說最重要的問題，但我們將全程積極參與其中。包括音樂產業在內的版權產業在政策上達成了廣泛的共識，即需要在生成式人工智慧領域保持強而有力的智慧財產權保護。

And now let's turn to our third priority, improving efficiency. Last month, we announced a strategic reorganization plan that will generate $300 million of cost savings to help future-proof the company and unlike the next era of growth. We're evolving into a faster and more focused and innovative company with an even more attractive financial profile.

現在讓我們來看看第三個優先事項：提高效率。上個月，我們宣布了一項策略重組計劃，該計劃將節省 3 億美元的成本，以幫助公司面向未來，並為下一個成長時代做好準備。我們正在發展成為一家速度更快、目標更明確、更具創新精神的公司，擁有更具吸引力的財務狀況。

In addition to the financial benefits, which Armin will talk about. Our plan will make our company leaner and stronger by compounding our global expertise backed by improved tech tools. I've given Armin oversight of the corporate development and spread-out teams in addition to finance organization. Across these interdependent functions, we will take a more holistic approach to disciplined and return-focused capital allocation.

除了阿明將要談到的經濟利益之外。我們的計劃將透過整合我們的全球專業知識並輔以改進的技術工具，使公司更加精簡和強大。除了財務組織之外，我還讓 Armin 負責公司發展和分散團隊的監督。在這些相互依存的職能中，我們將採取更全面的方法，進行有紀律、以回報為導向的資本配置。

As part of our plan, Warner Records unveiled a dynamic new marketing setup, while Atlantic Music Group sharpened its hip-hop and RMB focus and launched a country and Americana driven label called Atlantic outcomes. We've also appointed Alejandro Duque as President of ADA, our independent distribution arm. This expands his responsibilities as President of Warner Music Latin America.

作為我們計畫的一部分，華納唱片推出了一套全新的動態行銷方案，而大西洋音樂集團則加強了其嘻哈和RMB音樂的重點，並推出了一家以鄉村和美國民謠為主的唱片公司，名為Atlantic Outceptions。我們也任命 Alejandro Duque 為 ADA（我們的獨立分銷部門）的總裁。這將擴大他作為華納音樂拉丁美洲總裁的職責範圍。

Having him in this dual role will help us bring down barriers for ADA clients, plunging them more directly into our infrastructure and empowering them to build their businesses. We're very focused on growing our distribution business and the ADA brand through great services, flexible deal making, and tech innovation.

讓他擔任這一雙重角色將有助於我們消除 ADA 客戶的障礙，讓他們更直接地融入我們的基礎設施，並賦予他們發展業務的能力。我們非常注重透過優質的服務、靈活的交易方式和技術創新來發展我們的分銷業務和 ADA 品牌。

And finally, we've hired a new leader in APAC, Lo Ting-Fai. He joins us from a telecom giant PCCW, where he most recently served as CEO of the subsidiary, MakerBell, which focuses on Audis management and live events as well as COO of view its regional OTT streaming platform. Lo Fai was born in Hong Kong and has a long track record in scaling creative companies. He has also written hits under the pseudonym Yu Ri. We're excited about his ability to turbocharge our growth in Asia, including China and Japan.

最後，我們聘請了亞太區新負責人羅廷輝。他此前任職於電信巨頭 PCCW，最近擔任其子公司 MakerBell 的首席執行官，該公司專注於奧迪管理和現場活動，同時他還擔任其區域 OTT 串流平台的首席營運官。羅輝出生於香港，在拓展創意公司規模方面擁有豐富的經驗。他也曾以筆名 Yu Ri 創作熱門歌曲。我們對他能夠加速我們在亞洲（包括中國和日本）的成長感到興奮。

Regarding technology, we've made many improvements to our infrastructure that will help us in the long term including upgrading our distribution supply chain and creating a new interface for our ADA clients.

在技​​術方面，我們對基礎設施進行了許多改進，這將對我們長遠發展有所幫助，包括升級我們的分銷供應鏈，以及為我們的 ADA 客戶創建一個新的介面。

Additionally, we continue to make updates to our innovative artists and songwriter app, WMG Pulse and expand its user base. We've also begun to roll out a new app for our employees called WMG One. It serves as a single source of truth across the organization, helping to streamline global collaboration across markets increased impact for artists and songwriters and ultimately improve efficiency.

此外，我們不斷更新我們創新的藝術家和詞曲作者應用程式 WMG Pulse，並擴大其用戶群。我們也開始向員工推廣一款名為 WMG One 的新應用程式。它作為整個組織的統一資訊來源，有助於簡化跨市場的全球協作，提升藝術家和詞曲作者的影響力，並最終提高效率。

Building on our recent momentum, we have exciting music coming out from Ed Sheeran, Zach Bryan, Alex Warren, Twenty One Pilots, Sombr, Cardi B, David Guetta, and many more. The success we've been seeing gives us even more confidence that we have the right strategy as well as the expertise to accelerate it. Our mission is to grow WMG through our commitment to artists and songwriter development and more nimble organization and focused investment.

乘著我們最近的良好勢頭，我們將推出來自 Ed Sheeran、Zach Bryan、Alex Warren、Twenty One Pilots、Sombr、Cardi B、David Guetta 等眾多藝人的精彩音樂。我們所取得的成功讓我們更加確信，我們擁有正確的策略以及加速實施該策略的專業知識。我們的使命是透過致力於藝人和詞曲作者的發展，以及更靈活的組織和更有針對性的投資，來發展壯大 WMG。

I will now pass it over to Armin.

現在我將把它交給阿爾明。

Thank you, Robert, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝你，羅伯特，大家早安。

For those of you who have not already met, I wanted to properly introduce myself. After 20 years at Procter & Gamble, I joined Activision Blizzard in 2015, spending almost a decade there in financial, commercial and operational roles. Our focus at Activision was to create value for our players, communities, employees, partners and shareholders. This experience lends itself well to the tremendous opportunity we have in the music industry, and I'm extremely happy to have joined the talented team at Warner Music Group.

對於還不認識我的各位，我想正式地自我介紹一下。在寶潔公司工作 20 年後，我於 2015 年加入動視暴雪，在那裡擔任財務、商業和營運職務近十年。動視暴雪的重點是為我們的玩家、社群、員工、合作夥伴和股東創造價值。這段經歷與音樂產業的巨大機會非常契合，我非常高興能夠加入華納音樂集團這支才華洋溢的團隊。

Our primary goal is to accelerate long-term growth and value creation for artists and songwriters, fans, employees, partners, and shareholders. Together with our leadership team, we have developed a strong plan to execute against the three priorities that Robert laid out.

我們的主要目標是加速藝術家、詞曲作者、粉絲、員工、合作夥伴和股東的長期成長和價值創造。我們與領導團隊一起制定了一個強有力的計劃，以執行羅伯特提出的三個優先事項。

Before talking about our Q3 results, let me elaborate on this plan, which will help us to one, invest in to our core music business to accelerate revenue growth; two, increase efficiency to free up capacity to invest and to expand operating margin; three, level of M&A to turbo charge growth and value creation; and four, improved capital allocation efficiency and return capital to shareholders.

在討論我們第三季業績之前，讓我詳細說明一下這項計劃，該計劃將幫助我們：一、投資於我們的核心音樂業務，以加速收入增長；二、提高效率，釋放投資能力，擴大營業利潤率；三、提高併購水平，以加速增長和價值創造；四、提高資本配置效率，並向股東返還資本。

First, on accelerating growth. We have conducted rigorous analysis across the globe to assess each market's reporter value, both in terms of local growth and global exportability. As a result, we have creatine in key markets and genres where we will meaningfully increase investment, giving us a proprietary playbook on how to impactfully drive additional revenue and market share while taking a more holistic approach to disciplined return-focused capital allocation.

首先，關於加速成長。我們對全球範圍內進行了嚴格的分析，以評估每個市場的記者價值，包括本地成長和全球出口能力。因此，我們在關鍵市場和領域擁有了肌酸，我們將大幅增加投資，這為我們提供了一套專有的策略，指導我們如何有效地推動額外的收入和市場份額，同時採取更全面的方法進行以回報為導向的資本配置。

Second, in order to free up capacity and help fuel this growth and margin expansion, we have launched two key initiatives: last month, we announced a strategic restructuring program that will deliver annualized run rate savings of $300 million by the end of fiscal 2027.

其次，為了釋放產能並助力成長和利潤率擴張，我們推出了兩項關鍵舉措：上個月，我們宣布了一項戰略重組計劃，該計劃將在 2027 財年末實現每年 3 億美元的運行率節省。

In addition to providing more resourcing and capital for reinvestment across the most culturally powerful and highest potential reporter centers and making us more efficient. We expect this program to deliver margin expansion of 150 to 200 basis points in fiscal 2026. Please refer to our July 1 8-K for more details.

除了為最具文化影響力和最高潛力的記者中心提供更多資源和資金用於再投資，並提高我們的效率之外。我們預計該計劃將在 2026 財年實現 150 至 200 個基點的利潤率成長。更多詳情請參閱我們7月1日提交的8-K表格。

From an organizational perspective, this program will help us double down on greater growth in our core Music business. This means we'll overweight our resources in the highest potential reporter markets and journalists in order to provide the most attractive returns and we'll prioritize the skill set and tools in A&R and marketing that delivered the biggest impact for artists and songwriters, including by leveraging technology investments such as WMG Pulse and WMG one and our finance transformation initiatives, which are all starting to bear fruit.

從組織角度來看，該計劃將幫助我們加倍努力，實現核心音樂業務的更大成長。這意味著我們將把資源更多地投入到最具潛力的記者市場和記者身上，以提供最具吸引力的回報；我們將優先考慮藝人發掘和營銷方面的技能和工具，這些技能和工具對藝術家和詞曲作者產生了最大的影響，包括利用 WMG Pulse 和 WMG one 等技術投資以及我們的財務計劃，這些都開始取得成效。

Third, on M&A. Last month, we also announced a joint venture with Bain Capital for the purchase of up to $1.2 billion of catalogs across Recorded Music and Music Publishing. The JV leverages third-party capital to expand our buying power, adding even more firepower to our M&A initiatives, while also providing us with additional rights, revenue, and market share. We will manage all aspects of marketing, distribution and administration for the acquired catalogs. We expect news of our first acquisition soon.

第三，關於併購。上個月，我們也宣布與貝恩資本成立合資企業，收購價值高達 12 億美元的錄製音樂和音樂出版目錄。該合資企業利用第三方資本擴大了我們的購買力，為我們的併購計畫增添了更多火力，同時也為我們提供了額外的權利、收入和市場份額。我們將負責所收購產品目錄的營銷、分銷和管理等各個方面。我們預計很快就會有關於首次收購的消息。

Fourth, on capital allocation, we have a clear set of priorities. In addition to improving capital efficiency and stepping up investment into our core music business and catalog M&A, we are returning capital to shareholders. We have a $100 million buyback authorization. And as announced today that we're increasing our quarterly dividend for the fifth year in a row to $0.19 a share, an increase of 6%.

第四，在資本配置方面，我們有一套明確的優先事項。除了提高資本效率、增加對核心音樂業務和版權併購的投資外，我們還在向股東返還資本。我們已獲得1億美元的回購授權。正如今天宣布的那樣，我們將連續第五年提高季度股息，每股股息提高至 0.19 美元，增幅為 6%。

I wanted to add that we are committed to being transparent and communicative with the investor community about our progress and performance. In an effort to do this, we'll now provide updated disclosure and consistently address the items that impact year-over-year comparability. You'll find the details in our earnings release included in a simple table.

我想補充一點，我們致力於與投資者群體保持透明溝通，及時報告我們的進展和業績。為了實現這一目標，我們將提供更新的資訊揭露，並持續解決影響年度可比性的事項。您可以在我們的收益報告中找到詳細信息，報告中包含一個簡單的表格。

Now turning to our quarter three results. For quarter three, total revenue increased 7% and adjusted OIBDA increased 16% with a margin of 22.1%, an increase of 170 basis points over the prior year quarter. Adjusted for notable items, total revenue increased 8% and adjusted OIBDA increased 17% and with a margin of 21.8%, an increase of 170 basis points over the prior year quarter.

現在來看我們第三季的業績。第三季度，總營收成長7%，調整後OIBDA成長16%，利潤率為22.1%，較上年同期成長170個基點。經調整重大專案後，總營收成長 8%，調整後的 OIBDA 成長 17%，利潤率為 21.8%，比上年同期成長 170 個基點。

Recorded Music revenue increased 6% or 8% on an adjusted basis, driven by growth across streaming, licensing, and artist services and expanded drives. Recorded Music streaming revenue grew 3% due to subscription growth of 4% and ad-supported decline of 2%. Our subscription streaming growth reflects roughly 450 basis point headwind mostly related to a true-up payment from a streaming service in the prior year quarter.

錄製音樂收入成長了 6% 或經調整後成長了 8%，這主要得益於串流媒體、授權和藝人服務的成長以及推廣活動的擴大。由於訂閱收入成長 4%，廣告收入下降 2%，錄製音樂串流收入成長了 3%。我們的訂閱串流媒體成長反映了約 450 個基點的不利因素，這主要與去年同期串流媒體服務的一筆結算款項有關。

Adjusting for notable items, underlying subscription streaming growth was 8.5%, which reflects our positive market share trends and chart performance. Physical revenue decreased 4% as growth from strong releases in Korea and Japan was offset by the BMG rolloff. A

剔除顯著因素後，訂閱串流媒體的基本成長率為 8.5%，這反映了我們正面的市佔率趨勢和排行榜表現。實體唱片收入下降了 4%，韓國和日本強勁的發行帶來的成長被 BMG 的下架所抵消。一個

djusted for the roll-off, physical revenue would have increased 4%. Artist services and expanded rights revenue increased 20% due to higher concert promotion in primarily in France and Spain, while licensing revenue increased 19%, reflecting the strength in the UK and China specifically.

考慮到滾動銷售的影響，實際收入將增加 4%。由於主要在法國和西班牙的演唱會推廣力度加大，藝人服務和擴大版權收入增長了 20%；而授權收入增長了 19%，這主要反映了英國和中國的強勁表現。

Now turning to Music Publishing. Total revenue increased 9%, driven by growth across performance, mechanical, digital and sync revenue. In summary, our quarter three results reflect some of the impressive progress we have seen from our artists. We've continued the hot streak across labels, vintages and geographies.

現在轉向音樂出版。總收入成長 9%，主要得益於表演、機械、數位和同步收入的成長。總而言之，我們第三季的業績反映了我們的藝術家們所取得的一些令人矚目的進步。我們在各個品牌、年份和地區都延續了這波強勁勢頭。

As Robert said, not only have we been riding high in the charts, but we've also seen market share gains in the US where our market share was up roughly 1-percentage-points year-over-year based on Luminate Data. This progress was led by our flagship labels, Atlantic and Warner Records. We are also seeing positive improvement globally across EMEA, APAC and LATAM.

正如羅伯特所說，我們不僅在排行榜上取得了優異成績，而且在美國的市佔率也有所成長，根據 Luminate Data 的數據，我們的市佔率比去年同期成長了約 1 個百分點。這項進展是由我們的旗艦唱片公司 Atlantic 和 Warner Records 引領的。我們也看到，歐洲、中東和非洲地區、亞太地區以及拉丁美洲等全球範圍內的情況都在積極改善。

Despite all of our progress, there is still a lot of work to do. China and Japan, for example, represent markets with tremendous opportunity and upside. With the leadership in place for the APAC region and in Japan, we are now focused on improving our share in this very important represent centers.

儘管我們取得了許多進展，但仍有許多工作要做。例如，中國和日本是充滿巨大機會和發展潛力的市場。隨著我們在亞太地區和日本的領導層到位，我們現在專注於提高我們在這些非常重要的代表中心的市場份額。

Finally, turning to cash. Operating cash flow decreased to $46 million from $188 million in the prior year quarter. Operating cash flow conversion was 12% of adjusted OIBDA. Free cash flow decreased to $7 million from $160 million in the prior year quarter. This is primarily driven by greater investment in A&R.

最後，我們來談談現金。經營現金流從去年同期的1.88億美元減少至4,600萬美元。經營現金流量轉換率為調整後 OIBDA 的 12%。自由現金流從去年同期的 1.6 億美元減少到 700 萬美元。這主要是由於對藝人和曲目開發（A&R）投入的增加所致。

Looking forward, we continue to target 50% to 60% operating cash flow conversion over a multiyear period. Also as of June 30, we had a cash balance of $527 million, total debt of $4.4 billion and net debt of $3.8 billion. Our weighted average cost of debt was 4.1% and our nearest maturity date remains 2028.

展望未來，我們將繼續以多年內實現 50% 至 60% 的經營現金流轉換率為目標。截至 6 月 30 日，我們的現金餘額為 5.27 億美元，總債務為 44 億美元，淨債務為 38 億美元。我們的加權平均債務成本為 4.1%，最近的到期日仍為 2028 年。

In conclusion, our releases are doing very well, and the outlook for 2026 and beyond is promising. We expect financial performance that moderately reflects the success of our artists and songwriters as we move past tough comparables and see uplift from our recent renewals with streaming services. While some of our investments and initiatives will take time to bear fruit, we are committed to revenue acceleration, which in combination with the efficiencies from our cost savings program will deliver margin expansion.

總之，我們的產品發表情況非常好，2026 年及以後的前景十分樂觀。我們預計，隨著我們擺脫艱難的同期業績，並從最近與串流媒體服務的續約中獲得提振，財務業績將適度反映出我們旗下藝人和詞曲作者的成功。雖然我們的一些投資和舉措需要時間才能見效，但我們致力於加速收入成長，這與我們成本節約計畫帶來的效率提升相結合，將帶來利潤率的擴大。

With our updated strategy in place and more capital at our disposal, we are set up to move quickly as we create lasting value for our artists, songwriters, employees, fans, partners and shareholders. Finally, we'd like to thank our teams around the world for all the excellent work they have been doing to deliver a strong quarter and to set us up for continued growth.

隨著我們更新的策略到位，以及我們擁有更多資金，我們已做好準備，快速行動，為我們的藝術家、詞曲作者、員工、粉絲、合作夥伴和股東創造持久價值。最後，我們要感謝世界各地的團隊，感謝他們為實現強勁的季度業績和為公司持續成長所做的出色工作。

With that, we'll take your questions.

接下來，我們將回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Ben Swinburne, Morgan Stanley.

（操作說明）本‧斯溫伯恩，摩根士丹利。

I guess two questions. It's clear that you guys are focused on accelerating growth and you're reallocating resources around the company. At the same time, you've obviously taken a lot of cost out. So there's some tension there in terms of less investment but more targeted investments.

我想問兩個問題。很明顯，你們專注於加速成長，並且正在重新分配公司內部的資源。同時，你們顯然也節省了許多成本。因此，在投資減少但投資更有針對性方面存在一些矛盾。

So could you just elaborate a little bit on the strategy changes that you've made and how we should expect those changes in resource allocations to sort of drive financial performance. And then I would just love to hear if you have anything interesting to share on the generative AI topic and how you're leveraging that at the company, given I know it's a focus area for you, we'd be interested.

那麼，您能否詳細說明您所做的策略調整，以及我們應該如何預期這些資源分配的變化將如何影響財務績效？然後，我很想聽聽您在生成式人工智慧這個主題上是否有任何有趣的見解，以及您如何在公司中利用它。我知道這是您的重點領域，所以我們很感興趣。

All right. Thank you, Ben, and great to hear from you. So first, I want to say that we're really happy with the progress that we're making not only succeeding in the charts, but starting to see that translating into market share, especially in the United States, as I mentioned, plus 1-percentage-point per Luminate.

好的。謝謝你，本，很高興收到你的來信。首先，我想說，我們對目前的進展感到非常高興，不僅在排行榜上取得了成功，而且開始看到這轉化為市場份額，尤其是在美國，正如我提到的，每增加一個 Luminate，市場份額就增加 1 個百分點。

In order to sustain the growth in the future, we need to do better with more. How are we going to do that? First, we're going to free up a lot more capital through our reorganization. So our reorganization is strategic not only for being more efficient, but also power growth.

為了在未來保持成長，我們需要用更多的資源做得更好。我們該怎麼做呢？首先，我們將透過重組釋放更多資金。因此，我們的重組不僅具有戰略意義，旨在提高效率，而且促進成長。

Second, we'll level up our M&A and accelerate growth through that activity. Key part of that is our $1.2 billion joint venture with Bain Capital. Three, we're focusing our resource allocation on the markets with the highest potential for growth globally to accelerate growth again. And fourth, we have the right leadership in place in the US, Europe, LatAm. And just today, we announced the last piece of the puzzle with Lo Fai being appointed as the leader of APAC.

其次，我們將提升併購水平，並透過併購活動加速成長。其中關鍵部分是我們與貝恩資本成立的12億美元合資企業。第三，我們將資源配置重點放在全球最具成長潛力的市場，以再次加速成長。第四，我們在美國、歐洲和拉丁美洲都擁有合適的領導階層。就在今天，我們宣布了最後一塊拼圖，任命羅輝為亞太區負責人。

So across these four points, we feel really strongly about our plan. It's already in flight. We're starting to see the results of it. And all of that is capped by our ongoing discussions with the DSPs, which include commitments around PSMs and obviously, our discussions around superfanteers to further increase the value of music.

因此，就以上四點而言，我們對我們的計劃非常有信心。它已經在飛行中了。我們開始看到成效了。所有這些都離不開我們與數位音樂服務商（DSP）的持續討論，其中包括對公共服務媒體（PSM）的承諾，當然還有我們關於超級粉絲的討論，以進一步提升音樂的價值。

On your second question around Gen AI, there's a lot of work across the company on this topic. It has many tensions. But one of the things I can -- one example I can give you is last quarter, we've launched our WMG Pulse app for artis and songwriters, which shows them all of their streaming information, song information, audience information, on money.

關於你提出的第二個問題－人工智慧世代（Gen AI），公司內部正在進行大量相關工作。它存在諸多矛盾。但我可以舉一個例子：上個季度，我們推出了藝人和詞曲作者的 WMG Pulse 應用，該應用程式向他們展示了所有串流媒體資訊、歌曲資訊、觀眾資訊以及收入情況。

And that is one of the areas where we are working on applying an AI to drive further insights that would be very difficult to do timely with people. And Gen AI can help us provide insights about what is happening for the artists all around the world on all the DSPs and with all the actions they should be thinking.

而這正是我們正在努力應用人工智慧來獲取更多見解的領域之一，這些見解如果靠人來及時獲取是非常困難的。Gen AI 可以幫助我們了解世界各地藝術家在所有數位音樂平台上的動態，以及他們應該考慮的所有行動。

So we're really excited about that. This is just one example. There are many others. and stay tuned to hear more about it in the future.

所以我們對此感到非常興奮。這只是一個例子。還有很多其他內容，請關注後續報道。

Michael Morris, Guggenheim Securities.

邁克爾·莫里斯，古根漢證券。

I appreciate it. Robert, I wanted to ask you one on subscription streaming. I think you just reported about 8.5% core growth in the quarter. You mentioned a couple of areas of incremental momentum, artist share and some distribution renewals going forward. So you did provide midterm growth -- subscription growth guide in the past in the 8% to 10% range you're already there. So this bodes well. Can you just talk about how you're thinking about the future performance relative to that guide and whether there were any sources of nonrecurring strength this quarter?

謝謝。羅伯特，我想問你一個關於訂閱串流媒體的問題。我認為你們剛剛公佈的季度核心成長率約為 8.5%。您提到了一些可以逐步推進的領域，例如藝人分成和一些未來的發行續約。所以你們過去提供的中期成長——訂閱成長指南，在 8% 到 10% 的範圍內，你們已經達到了。這預示著好兆頭。您能否談談您對未來業績與該指引的預期，以及本季是否存在任何非經常性成長點？

And then, Armin, welcome. I appreciate your insights, including the margin expansion goals. My question is, are there opportunities to improve the cash conversion, whether or not that's a priority for you and the management team? And maybe if you could just help us prioritize your capital allocation goals, that would be very helpful.

那麼，阿明，歡迎你。我非常欣賞您的見解，包括利潤率擴張目標。我的問題是，是否有提高現金轉換率的機會，無論這是否是您和管理團隊的優先事項？如果您能幫助我們確定資金配置目標的優先順序，那將對我們非常有幫助。

Thanks, Michael. I'll start with the capital allocation question that you had. And let me talk about our capital allocation priority first before I talk about cash conversion. From a capital allocation perspective, we have seen great returns investing in our business. So that's our first priority is investing in our core music business.

謝謝你，麥可。我先回答你提出的資本配置問題。在討論現金轉換之前，我想先談談我們的資本配置優先事項。從資本配置的角度來看，投資我們的業務已經獲得了豐厚的回報。因此，我們的首要任務是投資我們的核心音樂業務。

And as Robert mentioned, we'll do this more thoughtfully now prioritizing key global reporter markets and genres. Second, we will step up investment in M&A just with investment in music catalogs, also leveraging our reasonably announced convention with Bain.

正如羅伯特所提到的，我們現在會更加深思熟慮地對待這項工作，並優先考慮重要的全球記者市場和類型。其次，我們將增加對音樂版權庫的併購投資，同時利用我們先前宣布的與貝恩公司的合作協議。

And then third, as I we said in my prepared remarks, we are focusing on returning capital to shareholders through buyback and dividends, and you just saw our dividend announcement. From a cash conversion perspective, this is a critical, not just a key focus there from management.

第三，正如我在準備好的發言稿中所說，我們正致力於透過股票回購和分紅向股東返還資本，你們剛才也看到了我們的分紅公告。從現金轉換的角度來看，這不僅是管理階層關注的重點，更是至關重要的重點。

Our target has been and continues to be 50% to 60% cash conversion. And you have seen in the past three years, we have been at the high end of this range. Going forward, we feel very strong about our plan. We have many different initiatives to continue to drive and improve that.

我們的目標一直是並將繼續是 50% 到 60% 的現金轉換率。過去三年，你們也看到了，我們一直處於這個範圍的高端。展望未來，我們對我們的計劃充滿信心。我們有很多不同的措施來持續推動和改善這一點。

The first one is obviously our cost savings plan which will not only improve margin and enable investment but also improved cash conversion. The second one is we are very focused on A&R spending efficiency. We mentioned already that we are very focused on prioritizing our spending on our core music business, number one, but also on core reporter markets with global potential. And then third, we have spent a lot of capital to deliver against our tech and finance transformation initiatives. As we go through this investment, that investment will normalize over time.

第一個顯然是我們的成本節約計劃，它不僅可以提高利潤率並實現投資，還可以提高現金轉換率。第二點是我們非常注重提升藝人與曲目開發（A&R）的支出效率。我們之前已經提到過，我們非常注重優先發展核心音樂業務，這是第一要務，同時也重視具有全球潛力的核心記者市場。第三，我們投入了大量資金來推動我們的技術和財務轉型計劃。隨著我們進行這項投資，這項投資最終會趨於正常化。

So because of all that, we feel very confident about our capital allocation priorities and cash conversion targets and also very focused on continuing returning capital to our shareholders.

正因如此，我們對資本配置重點和現金轉換目標充滿信心，並致力於持續為股東創造資本回報。

Now to your second question about streaming, I'll probably take that too. First of all, we are very happy with the results we had this quarter, and we saw growth across the world with share growth in the US across both Warner Records and Atlantic, which is critical for us.

至於你關於串流媒體的第二個問題，我可能也會回答。首先，我們對本季度的業績非常滿意，我們看到全球範圍內都實現了成長，尤其是在美國，華納唱片和Atlantic唱片的市場份額都實現了成長，這對我們來說至關重要。

On an adjusted basis, as you have mentioned, we have seen 8.5% paid streaming growth. Now as we look forward, we are very confident about our future because, one, the company is in a healthy place now and to the industry is in a very healthy place. And when we think about long-term growth, we believe that our adjusted quarter three results are very reflective of those healthy dynamics. So the investment that we've been making is really showing up in market share and growth.

正如您所提到的，經調整後，我們看到付費串流媒體成長了 8.5%。展望未來，我們對未來充滿信心，因為，首先，公司目前處於健康發展狀態，其次，整個產業也處於非常健康的發展狀態。當我們考慮長期成長時，我們認為我們調整後的第三季業績很好地反映了這些健康的動態。因此，我們所做的投資確實在市場份額和成長方面得到了體現。

Now as we look forward, there are a lot of tailwind to us. The industry continues to grow. And as you know, it's a little bit more resilient to changes in the economy. Second, as you know, we see the impact from our DSP renewals next year. Third, we have now more ammunition to invest into that growth behind our savings program. Fourth, we have M&A that will consume more aggressively, including with the joint venture with Bain. And then fifth, there's upside potential to the super premium here that we're working on with our DSP. So net will be very confident about our future prospects and look forward to discussing those more with you in the future.

展望未來，我們有很多有利因素。該行業持續增長。而且，正如你所知，它對經濟變化的適應能力更強一些。其次，如您所知，我們將在明年看到 DSP 續約的影響。第三，我們現在有更多資金投入儲蓄計畫的成長。第四，我們將更積極地進行併購，包括與貝恩公司成立合資企業。第五，我們正在與 DSP 合作，開發超高端產品，這方面還有很大的發展潛力。因此，我們對未來的前景非常有信心，並期待將來與您進一步探討這些前景。

Benjamin Black, Deutsche Bank.

班傑明·布萊克，德意志銀行。

Robert, in an environment where it's harder to break new stars wonder seems to be sort of having real success that's showing up in your new release market share. You mentioned the Luminate Data. We see it in our own notes here. Can you just talk a little bit about what's driving this success? And how sustainable is it?

在如今這個新星更難嶄露頭角的環境下，羅伯特似乎取得了真正的成功，這從他的新片市佔率中可見一斑。你提到了 Luminate Data。我們在自己的筆記中也看到了這一點。能否簡單談談促成這項成功的因素？它的可持續性如何？

And then Armin, you guys mentioned the new JV with Bain $1.2 billion at the outset. Can you just talk about the decision to partner versus going on your own? Are there opportunities to expand the partnership? And in the current rate environment, how do you think about the opportunity set around catalog acquisitions?

然後 Armin，你們一開始就提到了與貝恩資本成立價值 12 億美元的新合資企業。能談談選擇合夥創業還是單幹的決定嗎？是否有拓展合作關係的機會？在當前的市場環境下，您如何看待目錄收購的機會？

Sure. Thanks, Ben. So yes, indeed, in today's environment is very noisy, right, in many different platforms, mass amounts of content. And in general, for all kinds of companies, it has been hard to generate hits and stars, et cetera.

當然。謝謝你，本。所以，沒錯，現今的環境非常吵雜，在許多不同的平台上，充斥著海量的內容。總的來說，對於各種類型的公司而言，創造熱門歌曲和明星等等都是一件難事。

So for us to be able to sustain on a quarter after quarter basis, incredibly high. We've invested into A&R. We do invest it into our executives -- and this chart success is starting to show up in market share success, which is obviously very important when it's underlying bar. It's a proof of our underlying results. The playbook, as we mentioned, is to DNA of Warner.

因此，我們能夠連續幾季保持如此高的業績，實屬不易。我們已對藝人發掘與培養（A&R）進行了投資。我們確實對高階主管進行了投資——而圖表上的成功也開始體現在市場佔有率的成功上，這顯然是關鍵所在。這是我們基本業績的證明。正如我們之前提到的，這套策略就是華納的DNA。

If you look back to Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, there are so many orders that we have worked with for so long to develop them, Dua Lipa. And so we're really thrilled that the artists we're charting in the world today are the ones that we have developed recently in this increasingly noisy environment. Why is that happening? It's our executives, our people. We have a really amazing team of people who have the skill, which is very unique. And as I mentioned before, we have leadership in place that's really great in the US, LatAm and EMEA, and we just completed the leadership in APAC.

回顧布魯諾馬爾斯、艾德希蘭、酷玩樂隊，我們與許多藝人合作了很長時間才促成他們的合作，還有杜阿利帕。因此，我們非常高興地看到，如今在世界樂壇嶄露頭角的藝人，正是我們在這個日益喧囂的環境中近期培養出來的藝人。為什麼會發生這種情況？是我們的高階主管，是我們的員工。我們擁有一支非常優秀的團隊，他們具備非常獨特的技能。正如我之前提到的，我們在美國、拉丁美洲和歐洲、中東及非洲地區都擁有非常優秀的領導團隊，我們剛完成了亞太地區的領導團隊組建。

So we feel really good about our team, feel really good about the future. And this is also one of those things that proves that the value of major music companies is here to stay because in this environment to succeed globally, it's extremely hard. You need to have global infrastructure, local expertise, which is what we have, and it's showing up. So I'm really thrilled about the progress we're making, and I'll hand it over to Armin to address the Bain question.

所以我們對我們的團隊感到非常滿意，對未來也充滿信心。這也證明了大型音樂公司的價值將持續存在，因為在當今的全球環境下，要取得成功極為困難。你需要全球基礎設施和本地專業知識，而我們恰好擁有這兩點，而這一點正在顯現出來。我對我們所取得的進展感到非常興奮，接下來我將把這個問題交給 Armin 來回答。

Yeah. Thanks for the question. The summary is that we are focused on growth, margin and cash and acquiring catalog does really all of that. So the JV is really a critical building block for us in our long-term we need to accelerate the acquisition of catalog business. And the good news is that we found a partner with experience in this industry.

是的。謝謝你的提問。簡而言之，我們專注於成長、利潤和現金流，而收購目錄實際上可以實現所有這些目標。因此，合資企業對我們來說是一個至關重要的組成部分，我們需要加快收購目錄業務的步伐。好消息是我們找到了一位在該行業擁有豐富經驗的合作夥伴。

So we're very happy with the partner. And obviously, as you know, we've seen that in our disclosure, we retain 50% ownership of the catalogs that we acquired, and we will operate with basically by managing all aspects of marketing distribution and administration on net. This is a key building block for us, and we are very happy about the partnership.

所以我們對合作夥伴非常滿意。顯然，正如您所知，我們在揭露文件中已經表明，我們保留了所收購目錄 50% 的所有權，我們將主要透過管理網路行銷、分銷和管理的各個方面來進行營運。這對我們來說是一個重要的基石，我們對這項合作感到非常高興。

Peter Supino, Wolfe Research.

Peter Supino，Wolfe Research。

A question for Armin and one for the team. Armin, if you would expand on the announcement that was made a month ago regarding cost savings. If you could just talk about the organizational changes that you're making as part of that cost savings program and maybe detail the largest areas or opportunities for cost reductions.

一個問題問阿明，一個問題問團隊。阿明，你能否詳細說明一下一個月前發布的關於成本節約的公告？如果您能談談您為節省成本而進行的組織變革，並詳細說明最大的成本削減領域或機會，那就太好了。

And for the team, during this Q&A, you've discussed your interest in stepping up mergers and acquisitions and possibly expanding the use of joint ventures. That topic reminds me of organic growth. And I wonder if you could talk about the pros and cons of providing more specificity on organic growth and underlying financial trends in the business ex M&A going forward?

團隊方面，在本次問答環節中，你們討論了加強併購力度以及可能擴大合資企業使用範圍的興趣。這個話題讓我想起了有機成長。我想請您談談，在未來不進行併購的情況下，更具體地說明業務的有機成長和潛在財務趨勢的優缺點是什麼？

Let me address your organizational question first. This is a critical program for us because we wanted to make sure that we create an organization that helps us drive our growth aspirations. But at the same time, obviously, also deliver savings to create capacity to invest in the business and expand margins.

首先讓我回答您關於組織結構的問題。這對我們來說是一個至關重要的項目，因為我們希望確保創建一個能夠幫助我們實現成長目標的組織。但同時，顯然也要節省開支，以便有能力投資業務並擴大利潤率。

And frankly, as we went through the work as it been, we had to ground ourselves a little bit in the reality of our industry, which is that music is global but at the same time, we are operating in 70 markets around the world. Whereas we designed the organization, it was really important for us to have, on the one hand, the local expertise to discover new talent in those 70 markets and many more markets around the world.

坦白說，在我們開展這項工作的過程中，我們不得不稍微認清我們行業的現實，那就是音樂是全球性的，但同時，我們在全球 70 個市場開展業務。雖然我們設計了組織架構，但對我們來說，一方面擁有在70個市場以及世界各地更多市場中發現新人才的本地專業知識至關重要。

But at the same time, we also have the global scale to elevate local talent globally. So to deliver against that, we have developed a very thoughtful global regional local organizational model. And the net of it is that we are investing more money but also more resourcing in key markets in our frontline business, so A&R and marketing tools which are all focused on discovering artists and songwriters as well as driving our catalog business.

但同時，我們也擁有全球規模，可以將本土人才推向全球。為了實現這一目標，我們制定了一套非常周全的全球、區域和本地組織模式。最終結果是，我們不僅在關鍵市場投入了更多資金，還在一線業務中投入了更多資源，例如藝人發掘和行銷工具，這些都旨在發現藝術家和詞曲作者，並推動我們的曲庫業務。

At the same time, we are scaling our global and regional services behind the tax investments that we've been making over the last three years. And the balance of that was very important for us. All of this was enabled by tech investment, as I mentioned, over the past three years. So we're very, very happy with that, not only because they enable us to scale organization and services more but also provide better services to artists and songwriters like with our WMP Pulse app.

同時，我們正在擴大全球和區域服務規模，以支持我們過去三年在稅務方面的投資。而這種平衡對我們來說非常重要。正如我之前提到的，這一切都歸功於過去三年來的科技投資。所以我們對此非常非常滿意，不僅因為它們使我們能夠擴大組織和服務規模，而且還能為藝術家和詞曲作者提供更好的服務，例如我們的 WMP Pulse 應用程式。

Now as we move to the next phase of the tech investment I mentioned before this, that we will normalize external spend more consistent with the market so we expect savings there. We're also scaling our non-people spend more consistent with the new more efficient organization design.

現在，隨著我們進入我之前提到的技術投資的下一階段，我們將使外部支出更加符合市場規律，因此我們預計會在這方面節省開支。我們也正在調整非人力支出，使其與新的、更有效率的組織設計更加一致。

So in summary, we think we've got a very, very balanced organizational design that helps us drive the local opportunities while globalizing artists, but also drive cost savings to the bottom line. We have said before, that we expect from this about 150 basis points of margin expansion next fiscal year.

總而言之，我們認為我們擁有非常非常平衡的組織設計，這有助於我們抓住本地機​​遇，同時將藝術家推向全球，同時也能降低成本，提高利潤。我們之前說過，預計下個財年利潤率將因此提高約 150 個基點。

And I'll take the organic growth part of the question. So as we've said numerous times on this call, obviously, we're having a lot of creative success with new releases. That's part of our organic growth. the day-to-day A&R activities, finding artists, developing them, making them global superstars. That's all in the works, and we're doing an incredible job there. In my opening remarks, I mentioned our always on catalog approach with some of the examples like Veronica Electronica and Slipknot, et cetera.

我來回答關於有機成長的部分。正如我們在這次電話會議上多次提到的，顯然，我們在新作品的發布方面取得了巨大的創意成功。這是我們自然成長的一部分，包括日常的藝人發掘和培養活動，尋找藝人，培養他們，把他們打造成全球巨星。這些都在進行中，我們在這方面做得非常好。在開場白中，我提到了我們總是在線的目錄方法，並舉了一些例子，例如 Veronica Electronica 和 Slipknot 等。

We are focusing on marketing our catalog the same way we do frontline and making sure that, that is growing. It's two-third of our business. That is what organic growth is about -- and all of that is underlined by our relationships with DSPs and more certainty around pricing rather than wishful thinking around price increases.

我們正以與第一線銷售相同的方式推廣我們的產品目錄，並確保其不斷發展壯大。這占我們業務的三分之二。這就是有機成長的意義所在——而這一切都得益於我們與DSP的關係，以及在定價方面更加確定性，而不是對價格上漲抱持美好的願望。

So we feel really good about the industry growth. We feel very strongly about our own organic growth. And as Armin mentioned, layering on aggressive but responsible M&A capabilities augmented by the JV with Bain is just giving us extra firepower on accelerating.

所以我們對產業發展前景感到非常樂觀。我們非常重視自身的有機成長。正如 Armin 所提到的，透過與貝恩的合資企業，我們能夠增強積極但負責任的併購能力，這無疑會給我們加速發展提供額外的火力。

Kutgun Maral, Evercore ISI.

Kutgun Maral，Evercore ISI。

Two topics, if I could, one on ad-supported streaming at Recorded Music and a high-level question specific to Armin. So first, on ad-supported streaming, is there anything more you can share on how we should think about the trends at that line going forward across the more traditional core ad-supported business as well as emerging platforms.

如果可以的話，我想談兩個主題，一個是關於 Recorded Music 的廣告支援串流服務，另一個是關於 Armin 的一個高層次問題。首先，關於廣告支援的串流媒體，您能否分享一下，我們應該如何看待未來傳統核心廣告支援業務以及新興平台的發展趨勢？

And on the emerging front, is there anything you could call out in terms of the recent renewals you may have had with some partners or what the renewal pipeline heading into 2026 looks like? I know you don't talk about specific partners, but it's been, I think, about two years since the TikTok deal was announced, so I wanted to check in there.

在新興領域，您能否重點介紹最近與一些合作夥伴的續約情況，或是展望 2026 年的續約前景？我知道您不會談論具體的合作夥伴，但TikTok的交易宣布至今已經大約兩年了，所以我想了解一下情況。

And then on -- and then for Armin, you've been with the company for several months now, and it certainly seems like you've hit the ground running based off of some of the recent news flow I'd be curious to hear some of your early observations in the seat and maybe what made you interested in joining the music industry and WMG more specifically?

然後——至於 Armin，你加入公司已經幾個月了，從最近的一些新聞來看，你似乎已經迅速進入狀態。我很想聽聽你上任後的早期觀察，以及是什麼讓你對加入音樂產業，特別是華納音樂集團感興趣？

Thanks for the question. I'll start with my impressions. First, I'm super impressed with the management team here in New York, but also around the world. We have, I believe, one of the best creative themes that you can imagine in the US, in Europe, Latin America and now also with the appointment of new leaders in Asia.

謝謝你的提問。我先說說我的印象。首先，我對紐約以及世界各地的管理團隊都印象深刻。我認為，我們擁有美國、歐洲、拉丁美洲甚至現在隨著亞洲新領導人的任命而擁有的最優秀的創意主題之一。

Second, this is a super attractive industry. The industry has been growing for many years. But there are also a lot of opportunities that I felt that I could work on with the teams here based on my experience in another media industry, the gaming industry.

其次，這是一個極具吸引力的行業。該行業已經發展多年。但我覺得，憑藉我在另一個媒體產業——遊戲產業的經驗，我可以和這裡的團隊一起抓住很多機會。

Second, DSP contracts, as Robert mentioned, provide utmost certainty in the future. And it's a business that is now much more healthy. So we have a lot of opportunity ahead of us. So in that context, my key priorities were to make sure that I help the team to first make sure that we have more capacity to invest into the business. And we're doing that with our savings program, which will not just accelerate growth but also expand margin.

其次，正如羅伯特所提到的，DSP 合約為未來提供了最大的確定性。如今，這家企業的經營狀況好多了。所以我們面前有很多機會。因此，在這種情況下，我的主要任務是確保我幫助團隊首先確保我們有更多的能力投資於業務。我們正在透過儲蓄計劃來實現這一點，這不僅會加速成長，還會擴大利潤率。

Secondly, I also want to make sure I leverage my M&A experience from the park, which is extensive with P&P and that activation to help accelerate M&A and not just organic growth here. And then third, there's a lot of opportunity to improve capital allocation by pressing spending against the biggest and most profitable opportunities.

其次，我還想確保利用我在園區累積的併購經驗（我在P&P方面經驗豐富），並利用這些經驗來加速這裡的併購，而不僅僅是促進有機成長。第三，透過將支出集中用於最大、最有利可圖的機會，可以大大改善資本配置。

So net, I saw the opportunity. I saw the impact that could have on the business, and I'm super excited to be here, and I think we have tremendous opportunity to create value for our shareholders, but also for artists and songwriters and employees here.

總的來說，我看到了這個機會。我看到了這會對公司產生的影響，我非常高興來到這裡，我認為我們有巨大的機會為股東創造價值，同時也為這裡的藝術家、詞曲作者和員工創造價值。

On your question on the ad business, when we look at the ad business, there's actually two parts to it. One is our core DSP business, where we're actually growing our ads business. And as the biggest DSP platform mentioned last week, there's a lot of opportunity to accelerate further.

關於你提出的廣告業問題，當我們審視廣告業時，它實際上包含兩個部分。一是我們的核心DSP業務，我們目前正在發展我們的廣告業務。正如上週提到的最大的 DSP 平台一樣，它還有很多加速發展的機會。

The biggest challenge is really in the short form media content business, and that's a challenge for the industry, but track we need to work on with the industry together with those partners. But it's a lot of work for us to continue to improve that over time. And we're not done with that work, a lot of opportunity ahead of us.

最大的挑戰實際上在於短視頻媒體內容業務，這對整個行業來說都是一個挑戰，但我們需要與行業和合作夥伴一起努力解決這個問題。但要持續改進這一點，我們需要付出很多努力。這項工作還沒結束，我們面前還有很多機會。

Rich Greenfield, LightShed Partners.

Rich Greenfield，LightShed Partners。

Robert, there's been a lot of, I think, industry confusion over what this super premium or super fan experience should be your friends at Universal certainly started talking about it a couple of years ago, and Daniela at Spotify started talking about it. And it seems like the industry has struggled to figure out what the product actually should be. And at the same time, we're seeing -- if I look at something like SoundCloud, people love sort of interacting and playing with music. There's all of these new AI start-ups where people are sort of manipulating music.

羅伯特，我認為業界對於這種超級優質或超級粉絲體驗應該是什麼一直存在著很多困惑。你的環球影業的朋友們幾年前就開始談論它了，Spotify 的丹妮拉也開始談論它了。看來整個產業一直在努力弄清楚產品究竟應該是什麼樣的。同時，我們看到——如果我看看像 SoundCloud 這樣的平台，人們喜歡與音樂互動和玩耍。現在有許多新興的人工智慧創業公司，人們都在做一些與音樂相關的操作。

And I guess the question is, do you think we can evolve from what the super fan experience might have been, which was like higher quality audio or shot with the artist or it gets to a concert, and may it actually evolve to something that involves sort of interactive music or some form of AI interaction. And just big picture, where do you see this going?

我想問題是，你認為我們能否從超級粉絲體驗（例如更高品質的音訊、與藝術家一起拍攝或親臨演唱會現場）演變成某種涉及互動音樂或某種形式的人工智慧互動的東西？從宏觀角度來看，你認為這件事會如何發展？

Well, first, I think maybe we should invite you to our product session together with the DSPs because I know you have a lot of passion and expertise on this. I'm half joking only. But you're right, it's been something that's been discussed for a while. Obviously, there's nothing new to announce today, but we are in deep discussions with our partners. You're also right about interactivity, right?

首先，我想我們或許應該邀請您參加我們與數位訊號處理商 (DSP) 的產品研討會，因為我知道您對此充滿熱情並擁有豐富的專業知識。我只是半開玩笑而已。但你說得對，這個問題已經討論很久了。顯然，今天沒有什麼新消息要宣布，但我們正在與合作夥伴進行深入討論。你說的互動性也對，對吧？

Obviously, anything on the Internet is not only personalized but also interactive in many different ways and those are the things to leverage. I don't have anything new to announce today, but be sure that we are in deep discussions with our partners to evolve it because the opportunity is there.

顯然，網路上的任何內容不僅具有個人化，而且在許多方面都具有互動性，而這些正是我們應該利用的優勢。今天我沒有什麼新消息要宣布，但請放心，我們正在與合作夥伴進行深入討論，以推動其發展，因為機會就在眼前。

We all want to capture it. It makes sense for both the DSPs as well as us, the music companies and for artists and songwriters. So everybody wants to get it right and capture this opportunity. So we're excited about it, and we're busily working on it.

我們都想把它記錄下來。這對數位音樂服務商、我們音樂公司、藝術家和詞曲作者來說都很有意義。所以每個人都想把握住這個機會。所以我們對此感到興奮，並且正在積極努力。

Thank you, and I'm happy to join anytime.

謝謝，我隨時樂意加入。

All right. Sounds good. We'll take you up on it.

好的。聽起來不錯。我們會接受你的提議。

Doug Creutz, TD Cowen.

道格·克魯茨，TD Cowen。

Thank you, Armin, welcome back to the entertainment industry. Question for you. While you were at Activision, when I think about your time there, one of the things I think that, that company was really great at was realizing the full value of its content through its negotiations with its digital distribution platform partners. How does that experience inform your mental model about how to approach your relationships with your platform partners here at WMG?

謝謝你，阿明，歡迎重返演藝圈。問你一個問題。在你任職於動視暴雪期間，我回想起你在那裡的時光，我認為這家公司做得非常出色的一點是，它透過與數位發行平台合作夥伴的談判，充分發揮了其內容的價值。這段經歷如何影響你對如何處理與WMG平台合作關係的思維模式？

Great question. So I have two comments here. One, it's interesting to see how industries evolve over time. And what I mean with that is that you recall in the gaming industry, we used to have very few price points until free-to-play showed up, we basically cater to every different price points in the world.

問得好。我這裡有兩點要說。首先，觀察各個產業如何隨著時間推移而發展演變是一件很有趣的事。我的意思是，你可能還記得，在遊戲產業，在免費遊戲出現之前，我們的價格點非常有限，而現在我們基本上迎合了世界上所有不同的價格點。

So basically playing along the demand so. It feels like the music industry is at the point today where we offer very few products at very limited price points.

所以基本上就是順應市場需求。感覺如今的音樂產業已經發展到這樣一個階段：我們提供的產品種類非常有限，而且價格也非常有限。

And super premium tier is obviously one opportunity to cater to a more premium consumers. But I'd argue there are many, many more opportunities for us to deliver better and premium-priced products to our fans and to our communities. And we are having conversations, obviously, with our partners. And I will tell you that the partners also see those opportunities and in many cases, people from the gaming industry actually joined those partners, so they see a similar way.

而超高端產品線顯然是迎合更高端消費者的機會之一。但我認為，我們還有很多很多機會，可以為我們的粉絲和社群提供更好、價格更高的產品。當然，我們也在與合作夥伴進行對話。我還要告訴你們，合作夥伴們也看到了這些機會，而且在許多情況下，遊戲產業的人其實也加入了這些合作夥伴，所以他們的看法也類似。

Now the devil is in the detail on all of this. It's really all about execution because when we play along the price curve we have to make sure that we offer great value to consumers. And that's the work that's ahead of us. So be assured that we are very focused on this because there's tremendous opportunity to deliver growth, but also value for our consumers in, and that's how we approach that.

現在，魔鬼藏在細節裡。關鍵在於執行，因為當我們沿著價格曲線製定策略時，我們必須確保為消費者提供巨大的價值。這就是我們面前的工作。所以請放心，我們非常重視這一點，因為這其中蘊藏著巨大的成長機會，同時也能為我們的消費者創造價值，而這正是我們採取的方式。

That is all the time we have for questions. I will turn the call to Robert Kyncl for closing remarks.

我們提問時間到此結束。接下來我將把發言權交給羅伯特·金克爾，請他作總結發言。

Well, thank you all for joining today. I just want to close by saying we are really excited about the progress that we're making in an industry that has healthy dynamics that we're starting to see our creative excellence translate into market share growth in important markets and drive our revenue. And that we have a very strong plan to continue to accelerate this growth in the future. And on to execution. Thank you so much. Have a great day.

謝謝各位今天到場。最後我想說的是，我們對在這個充滿活力的行業中所取得的進展感到非常興奮，我們開始看到我們的創意優勢轉化為重要市場的市場份額成長，並推動我們的收入成長。而且我們制定了非常強有力的計劃，以在未來繼續加速這一成長。接下來進入執行階段。太感謝了。祝你有美好的一天。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。