NEW YORK — Warner Music Group announced 1,000 job cuts and a shake-up of top management on Tuesday, one day after Edgar Bronfman Jr. closed a deal to buy the company from Time Warner Inc.
The job cuts, equivalent to 20 percent of Warner Music Group's global work force, will take place over the next month.
Warner Music said in a statement it was taking the steps to better compete in the "challenging business environment of today's music industry." Warner and other major music companies are struggling in the face of widespread downloading of music files and declining sales of CDs.
"While the restructuring necessitates some painful changes, they are vital to creating a more agile organization that will allow us to remain competitive in the rapidly evolving marketplace," Bronfman said in a statement. The company would not make Bronfman available for further comment.
Bronfman and an investor group agreed to pay $2.6 billion for Warner Music Group in November after London-based EMI Group PLC pulled its own bid.
The purchase, which also includes Time Warner's Warner/Chappell Music publishing business, creates one of the world's largest independent music companies, with an artist roster that includes Kid Rock, Madonna, Faith Hill, and Metallica.
Three senior executives will be leaving the company: Val Azzoli, the co-chairman of Atlantic Records; the label's co-president, Ron Shapiro, and Sylvia Rhone, the chairman of Elektra.
the founder of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, will stay with the company but his exact role has yet to be determined, according to company spokesman Will Tanous.
The company said it was still in negotiations with Roger Ames, chairman and CEO of Warner Music when it was still part of Time Warner, about a senior management role.
Associated Press Business Writer Alex Veiga contributed to this story.