Report: Universal Music Group Eyes EMI

Joining The Bidding

The UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP will be one of the bidders for EMI GROUP, a person close to the label told the L.A. TIMES. The bidding process for the British conglomerate, now controlled by CITIGROUP, is expected to take months.

Although UMG, which already boasts 30% of the market, refrained from entering the auction for WARNER MUSIC GROUP due to potential anti-trust issues -- as a WMG-absorbed UMG would comprise almost half of global sales -- EMI's market share is just 9%. A combined UMG/EMI, with a bit less than 40% of the market, would be an easier sell with regulators worldwide.

EMI is expected to fetch $3 billion and change, in the neighborhood of what oil tycoon LEN BLAVATNIK paid for WMG. As speculated earlier, WMG is also expected to make a run at EMI.

« see more Net News