Roadrunner Records

Roadrunner Records was founded in the Netherlands in 1980 by Cees Wessels. The label mostly released heavy metal and related genres in Europe during the 1980s, often licensed from other labels. Roadracer Records was used for markets outside of Europe until the end of the 1980s, when the sublabel also started being used in Europe. Roadrunner signed many innovative or controversial metal bands, such as Annihilator, Carnivore, Death, Deicide, Gorguts, King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Obituary, Pestilence and Sepultura. During the 1990s, the label changed to become more commercial, which alienated many of their heavy and extreme metal bands.
Roadrunner became one of the largest independent heavy metal labels until December 18, 2006, when Warner Music Group announced that it had signed a deal to acquire 73.5% of Roadrunner Records for 73.5 million dollars. Acquisition was first completed on January 29, 2007 due to regulatory approval in Germany. In November 2010, Roadrunner Records was fully acquired by WMG. Cees Wessels was CEO of Roadrunner until April 2012, when the Dutch office was shut down.