Vivendi, owner of Universal Music Group, the music department of the British EMI Group take over. In addition, Sony/ATV section to get your hands on that copyright manages. Collectively, the amount of 4.1 billion dollars.
The artists of EMI that Universal is attached, but the transaction must still be approved by the authorities. According to rumors had Warner Music Group are also interested, but had their bid between 1.5 billion and 1.6 billion dollars too low.
Sony/ATV, take reportedly the part of EMI in their hands that the copyright of the artists manage, report various media. This would be the company $ 2.2 billion to pay for, but this is not yet publicly published.
By the acquisition of EMI, there remain three major record companies: Warner, Universal and Sony. Universal was already the largest, and its share will increase with the acquisition of a further increase significantly. According to a survey by Music & Copyright was Universal in 2010 a share of 28.7 percent on the American music market, followed by Sony with 23 percent. EMI held a share of 10.2 percent.
The acquisition does not come as a surprise. Earlier there were rumors that Citigroup, owner of EMI, the record label of the hand would do. It was already an amount of 4.1 billion dollars is mentioned. Citigroup was since February, the owner of EMI.
Update 18.24 hours: Initially it was only the takeover by Universal in the article discussed. The article was rewritten due to the share of Sony in the transaction.
