A couple of months ago we updated you on the state of the sale of one of music’s giants, Warner Music Group. The estimated price in March was $1.4-2 billion with several companies interested in its purchase. It seems the negotiations were hard-fought since it has taken two months for the final buyer to be announced, and the price is much higher than we thought it’d be.
Access Industries, owned by Russian Len Blavatnik, has bought out the label for $3.3 billion and acquired a $2 billion debt in the process. This was a pay out of $8.25 a share.
Early rumours suggest that Blavatnik’s next target is EMI, with the eventual aim of combining the two. Whatever happens, expect many reissues from the back catalogues of the likes of Elektra and Atlantic very soon.
