p2pnet - rss feed: Warner Music
With reports that Time Warner will probably sell Warner Music to investors including Edgar Bronfman Jr for about $2.61 billion comes news that EMI - which was also after Warner Music - has not only pulled out of the running, but might itself be lined up.
"EMI today withdrew from the bidding for Time Warner’s music business amid reports that it has become a takeover target itself," says a GuardianUnlimited report here, going on:
"This is the third time in three years that EMI, home to the Rolling Stones, Coldplay and Radiohead, has been thwarted in efforts to find a merger partner. But EMI shares rose 0.6% to 164.5p on reports that Blackstone, the US investment group, was plotting to buy the company for £1.5bn. Blackstone is understood to have held talks with EMI on two previous occasions this year, the Observer newspaper reported yesterday.
"EMI met Warner Music officials over the weekend to highlight potential cost savings of around $300m from a merger. But Time Warner plumped for Mr Bronfman amid fears that an EMI bid would get bogged down in scrutiny from EU competition authorities. EMI had offered Time Warner about $1bn for a majority stake in Warner’s recorded music business."
