Universal Music Group confirms wave of senior exits as cost-cutting plan enters final phase
Universal Music Group has started the final phase of a three-part restructuring first announced in 2024, with a run of senior departures confirmed internally on Oct. 14. The changes affect label chiefs and executives in the United States, Britain and Ireland, according to internal announcements reported by Billboard.
In the US, Tunji Balogun, chairman and chief executive of Def Jam Recordings, will leave his post. He will stay on through the rest of the year. Nicole Wyskoarko, president and head of urban A&R at Interscope Geffen A&M, will also leave, along with Sam Riback, co-president and head of pop and rock A&R at the same label group. A&R, or artists and repertoire, is the department that signs new acts and oversees recordings.
Republic Records chief executive Jim Roppo will leave Universal Music Group as part of the changes. Two executives step into new leadership roles at Republic effective immediately: Tyler Arnold, chairman and chief executive of Mercury, and Jeffrey Remedios, president and chief executive of Republic Collective. Remedios previously served as chairman and chief executive of UMG Canada.
The moves fit a wider reshaping of the company into an East Coast-West Coast structure. The East Coast operation is reorganising under the REPUBLIC umbrella headed by Monte Lipman, while the West Coast is grouped under Interscope Capitol branding led by John Janick.
In Britain and Ireland, Ben Mortimer, president of Polydor Records in the UK, will leave. So will Rebecca Allen, chief artist and strategy officer at Universal Music Group UK, Hannah Neaves, president of UMRecordings UK, Mark Crossingham, managing director of UMG Ireland, and Ivo Sacchi, according to the internal notes. Allen spent 27 years at Universal before stepping away from her role, Music Business Worldwide reported. Neaves and Allen will continue with the company in consultancy roles.
There are successors and expanded roles in some posts. Nick Younger will succeed Crossingham in Ireland. At Island Records, executives Imran Majid and Justin Eshak will take on a wider remit as part of the latest changes.
Universal has described the 2024 plan as a “strategic organizational redesign” intended to deliver 250 million euros ($271 million) in annual savings by the end of 2026. The company said the reorganisation would include reductions of 75 million euros ($81.3 million) in 2024 and 125 million euros ($135.5 million) in 2025. The programme, first announced in February 2024, was planned as a mix of headcount reduction and other operational efficiencies.
Job cuts outside the executive ranks have continued in recent weeks. In late September, Universal Music Canada laid off about 6%-7% of its workforce, affecting roles in communications, marketing, A&R, label partnerships and administration. Universal also reduced headcount across certain divisions in Germany. Warner Music Group, one of the two other major labels alongside Universal and Sony, launched a comparable cost-cutting programme in 2023.
For listeners, the label names on releases are not changing. What is changing is who runs them. That matters because label heads approve signings, budgets and release schedules, and those decisions shape which records get priority and support.
