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Universal Music Group

Dutch-American music corporation

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 17, 2026
Entity authoritySource title only
Source-derived summary

Universal Music Group N.V. is a Dutch-American music corporation under Dutch law. While UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands, its operational headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California. As the biggest music company in the world, it is one of the "Big Three" record labels, along with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. Tencent acquired ten percent of Universal Music Group in March 2020 for €3 billion and acquired an additional ten percent stake in January 2021. Pershing Square Holdings later acquired ten percent of UMG before its IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. The French Bolloré family still owns 28 percent of UMG. The company went public on September 21, 2021, at a valuation of €46 billion.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Universal Music Group” as dutch-American music corporation. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2020, 2021—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Universal, Music and Group can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as dutch-American music corporation. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The first chronological checks are 2020 and 2021.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Universal Music Group”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Universal Music Group primary sources, Universal Music Group archive and Universal research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Universal Music Group”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Universal Music Group” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.