Warner Music Exec to Depart

Warner Music Group, the world’s fourth-largest record company, said Les Bider, chairman and chief executive of its music publishing unit, planned to leave when a successor was appointed.

Bider’s replacement at the Warner/Chappell division will be named “at a later date,” Warner Music Group said.

“I have elected not to extend my agreement when it expires at the end of the year,” Bider said in a statement.

The publishing arm, which licenses rights to songs including “Happy Birthday,” accounted for 17% of Warner Music Group’s sales in the 10 months ended Sept. 30. A group of investors including Edgar Bronfman Jr., Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners in March 2004 bought Warner Music Group for $2.6 billion from Time Warner Inc.

Bider helped create Warner/Chappell by merging Warner Bros. Music Inc., where he was chief financial officer, with Intersong Music Group. He became CEO at the new division and took the chairman title a year later.