Wall Street’s Pain Felt Down On Music Street
The huge sell off on Wall Street and all of the world’s financial markets over the last two weeks hasn’t just been felt on Main Street. Sunset Boulevard, Music Row and beyond have felt the sting of the stunning declines as well. Music companies and those for whom music is just part of a larger portfolio have all suffered major losses in value. Based in closing prices on Thursday October 10th, 2008:
WMG – $5.95 off a 52 week high of $11.50- Sony – $23.51 off a 52 week high of $57.19
- Apple– $88.74 off a 52 week high of $202.96
- Sirius XM – $.40 off a 52 week high of $3.94 *
- Viacom – $20.68 off a 52 week high of $44.95
- Live Nation – $11.74 off a 52 week high of $24.03
- RealNetworks – $3.63 off a 52 week high of $7.61
* NASDAQ normally de-lists sub $1 stocks, but the exchange is considering an exception based in current market conditions.
The market declines are also leaving venture capital firms with less cash and skiddish of investments. Liscencing issues and lawsuit have made some music start-ups a partiurlarly tough sell for months, but the current squeeze is making all venture funding 30% or more tougher to secure according to some estimates.
