Authentic Brands Group buys 51% of rapper Drake's OVO label

Authentic Brands Group has bought a 51% majority stake in the intellectual property behind October's Very Own, the brand Drake built in Toronto. He is not leaving: he keeps a 44% stake and remains in charge of creative direction, so decisions about how OVO looks stay with him.

The operational side changes hands. Vince Holding Corp. steps in as global licensee and will handle design, merchandising and retail going forward, which is the part of a clothing business that determines whether it can grow beyond a small number of stores.

Drake spoke publicly once the deal was out, calling it a natural next step for something he and his team built from nothing in Toronto years ago, and describing Authentic and Vince as the right partners for what comes next.

The scale of what OVO is joining explains why. It currently runs 12 flagship stores alongside its e-commerce operation, which is a real footprint for an artist owned label but small against Authentic's portfolio, valued at around $38 billion and spanning fashion and entertainment brands.

The trade being made is legible enough. OVO gains distribution, retail infrastructure and back end operations it did not have, and gives up majority ownership of its own intellectual property to get them. Whether it still feels like OVO at that scale is the open question, and Drake staying on as creative lead is the hedge against it.

Artist owned brands are increasingly treated as assets to be sold rather than side projects, which puts this alongside other hip-hop business stories on the site, including Drake being spotted back in the studio while ICEMAN holds the charts and his Stake.us case turning on a New Mexico fight over discovery.