Forensic Analysis · Live Entertainment & Events · as of Nov 9, 2026

Warner Music Group Corp. (WMG)

A forensic read on Warner Music Group Corp. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

D · Weak — demands caution

Forensic grade

Distress

Financial health

-0.8

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

62.7%

ROE

4.4%

Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

Warner Music Group Corp. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -0.8, placing it in the Distress zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

10.8%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 10.8% in the latest fiscal year, against 13.0% in FY2023, having run between 10.8% and 14.7% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $569M in FY2023 and $524M in FY2025, with operating income at 13.1% of revenue in FY2023, 12.8% in FY2024 and 10.3% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +11% across FY2023–FY2025, from $4.4B to $4.8B, while the return fell 2.2 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 13.0% the older base was already earning. FY2024's operating profit carried a $135M restructuring charge and a $50M asset write-down that alone took about 3.3 points off that year's return; FY2024 sits between the two ends of FY2023–FY2025, so the charge shapes the path between them without moving the change across it. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.

$4M

FY2025

Goodwill impairments. Took $4M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2025 ($4M)) — about 1% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$6.71B

Revenue Growth YoY+4.4%

Revenue CAGR (2yr)+5.4%

Net Margin5.4%

Free Cash Flow$539.0M

Return on Equity62.7%

Debt / Equity6.28x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 9, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

See a wrong number? Report an error with the filing it should match.