Bob Valentine becomes chief executive as the BMG and Concord music merger closes

Bob Valentine has started as chief executive of the merged BMG and Concord, after the two companies confirmed on 1 September that their transaction had closed. Thomas Coesfeld, who ran BMG before the deal, moves to chairman of the combined business.

The transaction was first announced on 28 April 2026 and has now received all required regulatory approvals. The merged company operates under the BMG name, with global headquarters in Nashville and Berlin serving as the European base, an arrangement that puts the centre of gravity for a German-owned business in Tennessee.

Ownership splits roughly two ways. Bertelsmann holds about 67 per cent and affiliates of Great Mountain Partners about 33 per cent, with those affiliates receiving a one-time cash payment of 1.16 billion dollars from Bertelsmann as part of the deal. The combined catalogue runs to more than four million works.

Coesfeld framed the close as the start of a new chapter, saying the business now has the scale and resources for what is coming and pointing to investment in creators, music rights and artificial intelligence as the areas where the company expects to find new opportunities for artists and writers.

The reference to AI is not incidental. BMG has been among the more active major independents in that market, having signed a global licensing deal with the AI company Suno earlier this year, an arrangement that later added download caps and watermarks to the terms.

The merged company brings together two businesses that already spanned publishing, recorded music, theatrical rights, digital distribution and film and television. BMG has also been buying catalogue steadily on its own account, including the publishing and recorded rights of Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale. What the merger changes is the size of the balance sheet behind that activity.