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Warner Music Taps Rival CEO’s Son to Lead Its Atlantic Unit

The Warner Music Group Inc. logo is displayed on a water tower above the company's headquarters in the Arts District neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Wednesday, June 3, 2020. Warner Music Group's shareholders have raised $1.93 billion in an upsized initial public offering that ranks as one of the biggest U.S. listing this year. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg (Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Warner Music Group Corp. is reshuffling its executive ranks, naming Elliot Grainge the chief executive officer of its Atlantic Music Group reporting to Warner CEO Robert Kyncl. 

As part of the reorganization, Max Lousada, who heads the company’s recorded music division, will step down at the end of the fiscal year in September. He will remain an adviser through Jan. 31, the company said in a statement Thursday.

The changes cap a remarkable rise for Grainge, who founded the label 10K Projects that discovered artists including Ice Spice and was acquired by Warner this year. He is the son of Lucian Grainge, the CEO of rival Universal Music Group. 

“Elliot has been a stellar addition to WMG’s leadership team, with a distinctive approach to artist development,” Kyncl said in the statement. 

As part of the changes, Julie Greenwald will become chair of Atlantic Music Group, reporting into Kyncl. 

Warner cut 600 positions, or about 10% of its staff, earlier this year. In May, the company reported second-quarter earnings that missed estimates. 

Universal shares tumbled last week after reporting slowing sales. Warner is scheduled to release results again on Aug. 7.

(Adds industry financials in penultimate graph. Earlier version corrected name in first paragraph)

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