And you thought Google was a controversial investor in the music business.
MBW has discovered that Lockheed Martin, the world’s biggest supplier of war weaponry, owns a slice of music streaming platform Pandora.
The holding is controlled by Lockheed Investment Management Co – an asset management subsidiary of the company, which makes bets on future-looking technology firms.
Lockheed Martin Corporation has been the biggest weapons dealer in the world since 2009 and, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), typically achieves annual arms sales in excess of $35bn.
Amongst the many deadly weapons Lockheed produces are the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), and Hellfire, an air-to-ground missile used on rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, which is produced for the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and ‘international customers’.
Last year, 61% of Lockheed’s ‘missiles and fire control’ revenue came from the US Government, but it also dealt with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as Qatar, the UAE, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Kuwait.
The Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. actually just sold a chunk of its holding in Pandora – reducing its stake by 2.13% during the most recent quarter.
It maintains a total of 184,000 shares after selling 4,000 shares in the three months to end of September, Lockheed said in a disclosure report filed with the SEC on Nov 2, 2016.
Its current stakeholding in Pandora is therefore worth around $1.96m.
Pandora has posted net losses in excess of $250m so far this year, while annual revenue is on course to top $1bn by year-end.
Lockheed Investment Management Co is also an investor in the Walt Disney Company, Microsoft and Halliburton.Music Business Worldwide
