Warner Music Group, Sold! (For $3.3 Billion)
Warner Music Group Corp., the world’s third-largest recording company with such artists as Eric Clapton, Michael Buble and Paramore, is being sold for about $1.3 billion as a global decline in CD sales weighs down the industry.
Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries is paying $8.25 a share and will take about $1.9 billion in Warner debt.
The deal, announced by the companies Friday, comes as U.S. recorded music sales are half what they were a little over a decade ago. Gains in digital sales have started to flatten, and CD sales continue to fall… READ MORE from Associated Press
The sale may eventually lead to more consolidation in the music industry. Many consider Mr. Blavatnik’s next step to be an attempt to combine Warner Music’s record-music arm with that of the EMI Group, which Citigroup owns after foreclosing on its previous owner.
That would shrink the number of big global record companies to three from four, and perhaps the combined Warner-EMI entity would find enough cost savings to become financially healthy.
Since putting itself up for sale in January, Warner Music had attracted dozens of potential buyers, from other music companies to billionaires seeking a trophy acquisition… READ MORE from New York Times
