Sony Exploring Sale of Music Publishing Unit, Leaked Emails Show

ivy

Proud Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
16,074
Points
0
Location
USA
Sony Exploring Sale of Music Publishing Unit, Leaked Emails Show
Highly Profitable Unit Is Co-Owned by Sony and Michael Jackson’s Estate
By HANNAH KARP And ALEXANDRA BERZON
Dec. 23, 2014 4:17 p.m. ET
0 COMMENTS
Sony Corp. has been exploring the sale of its Sony/ATV Music Publishing unit, the company’s recently leaked internal emails suggest.

The music publisher, co-owned by Sony and the estate of the late pop star Michael Jackson , is the world’s biggest and is highly profitable, according to people familiar with the matter. Estimated to be worth between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, it owns the copyrights to most of the Beatles’ songs, among thousands of others.

It was unclear from documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal whether Sony is considering selling just its stake in the venture, or whether the whole unit might be put up for sale. Also unclear was the price Sony expects the publishing business to fetch, or when the company might try to sell it.

Spokesmen for Sony and Sony/ATV declined to comment.


For Sony, the potential sale would represent an easy and logical way to raise cash to prop up its long-struggling electronics division, according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking. Sony posted a $1.2 billion net loss for the quarter ended Sept. 30.

The possible sale of Sony/ATV was mentioned in emails last month between top Sony executives. The emails were among the thousands of documents leaked several weeks ago by hackers trying to stop the release of the Sony Pictures film “The Interview,” a lowbrow comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. U.S. officials have blamed the cyberattack on North Korea, and President Barack Obama last week promised a “proportional response.” North Korea temporarily lost Internet connectivity Monday, though the U.S. hasn’t taken responsibility for the outage.

Following Sony’s annual “mid-range plan” meeting last month, the Tokyo-based secretary for Sony Vice President Kazuhiko Takeda sent an email to Sony Entertainment Chief Executive Michael Lynton, requesting a response to a number of “follow-up” items discussed at the meeting. A list of the discussion items appeared to have been attached to the email. Six other executives, including Sony Corp. of America Chief Financial Officer Steve Kober, were copied.

Advertisement

Later that day, Mr. Kober sent a private email to Mr. Lynton, offering to take the lead on responding to Mr. Takeda but asking Mr. Lynton not to forward the first email to “anyone in your organization,” because the attached list of discussion items included “a follow-up point talking about the sale of Sony/ATV.”

“As you are aware, we are trying to keep this top secret and manage this among a very small group,” Mr. Kober wrote in his email.

Sony Corp. of America President Nicole Seligman also emailed Mr. Lynton that day warning him not to forward the note from Mr. Takeda’s secretary.

The email “mentions the ATV issue,” Ms. Seligman wrote. “We have asked that it be deleted going forward.”

Mr. Jackson, the late pop star, bought ATV Music Publishing for $47.5 million in 1985, and sold Sony a 50% stake in the business for $90 million 10 years later, creating the joint-venture. He died in 2009 while preparing for a comeback tour.

In 2012, Sony and Mr. Jackson’s estate joined with other investors, including Abu-Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Co. and music mogul David Geffen, to acquire EMI Music Publishing for $2.2 billion. Sony/ATV Music now administers the EMI catalog on the investor group’s behalf.

It was unclear from the leaked Sony emails whether EMI would be packaged with Sony/ATV in a sale.

Activist investor Daniel Loeb had been urging Sony for more than a year to sell some of its entertainment assets to focus on its electronics business. But Mr. Loeb no longer has sway: his hedge fund, Third Point, sold its 7% stake in the company in October.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/sony-ex...publishing-unit-leaked-emails-show-1419369448

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sony Planned to Sell Music-Publishing Unit Owning Beatles
By Lucas Shaw and Christopher Palmeri Dec 23, 2014 2:33 PM ET 0 Comments Email Print
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
LinkedIn
Save
Sony Corp. was considering the sale of its music-publishing business, including a partnership with Michael Jackson’s estate that owns the Beatles catalog, as recently as last month, e-mails released by hackers show.

The “top secret” plan was being handled in the U.S. by Sony Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Michael Lynton, Sony Corp. of America President Nicole Seligman and their U.S. Chief Financial Officer Steve Kober, according to an Nov. 21 e-mail from Kober. The company had concluded the business had few growth prospects.

Top management at Tokyo-based Sony was concerned about the complex ownership and governance of the business, whose owners also include billionaire David Geffen and Abu Dhabi investors. Details of the sale plan, including possible terms or suitors, couldn’t be determined. The documents were released as part of the cyber-attack on Sony over the movie “The Interview.” Publishing accounts for 14 percent of Sony’s music revenue, the main part being recorded music.

Bob Lawson, an outside spokesman for Sony with Rubenstein Communications, didn’t have an immediate comment.

Sony Corp. (6758)’s Chief Financial Officer Kenichiro Yoshida raised questions about the future of music publishing, in an Oct. 3 e-mail to his boss, CEO Kazuo Hirai, and Lynton, a prelude to a meeting of the three, according to messages released by the hackers.

“I’d like to hear your thoughts on the Music Publishing business, which has a rather complex capital and governance structure and is impacted by the market shift to streaming,” Yoshida wrote in the message.

Sony Deliberations

Sony’s deliberations on the publishing business were included in a planning document sent to at least half a dozen Sony executives, according to the Nov. 21 e-mail. That included a presentation that outlined they were considering the sale.

“We are very surprised that the attached listing includes the comment about the sale of Sony/ATV,” Kober wrote. “As you know quite well, this is a top-secret project that is being handled by me working directly with Michael and Nicole.”

The publishing division includes Sony/ATV Music Publishing and EMI Music Publishing.

Sony/ATV was established in 1995 as a joint venture between Sony and Jackson, who had acquired ATV 10 years earlier. Former Beatle Paul McCartney had also tried to purchase the catalog.

In 2012, Sony paid $2.2 billion for the larger EMI Music Publishing, along with investors including Jackson’s estate, Blackstone Group’s GSO Capital Partners LP, Geffen and Mubadala Development Co. owned by the Abu Dhabi government. Sony/ATV administers EMI on behalf of the investors.

Music Royalties

Music publishers collect royalties from album sales, use on TV and other performances. The combined Sony publishing business represents stars from Bruce Springsteen to Lady Gaga and more than 2 million songs, including “New York, New York,” “Jailhouse Rock” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.”

The Japanese company and Jackson’s estate each own half of Sony/ATV, which owns more than 750,000 songs, according to a press release from 2012. EMI Music Publishing, in which Sony holds a 30 percent stake, has 1.3 million songs in its catalog.

Together, Sony/ATV and EMI represent the world’s biggest music publishing business, with Sony estimating a global market share of more than 30 percent.

The music publishing business generates about $500 million in annual revenue and $100 million in operating profit, according to a mid-range plan of Sony’s music business in October that was released by the hackers.

Publishing Growth

Sony’s music publishing business will see sales rise 13 percent over three years to $617 million by fiscal year 2018, according to the mid-range plan circulated internally. Operating profit will rise 23 percent to $123 million during that period.

The e-mails were released as part of a devastating hack on Sony that the FBI said was committed by North Korea over the Hollywood studio’s plan to release the satirical movie “The Interview” about an assassination plot against the nation’s leader, Kim Jong Un.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...ell-music-publishing-unit-owning-beatles.html
 
I can see how a sale worth billions is more attractive than a $100M annual profit for a company the size of Sony right now.
 
I can see how a sale worth billions is more attractive than a $100M annual profit for a company the size of Sony right now.

operating profit is also the profit before interest and taxes. so the end number would be even lower. also will be even more lower if that's the whole Sony/ATV operating profit and they have to divide it up with MJ Estate.

plus $500 M revenue but $100 Million operating profit signals significant expense/cost items.
 
Last edited:
Mods - sorry in advance if this is in the wrong section

http://www.wsj.com/articles/sony-ex...publishing-unit-leaked-emails-show-1419369448

Highly Profitable Unit Is Co-Owned by Sony and Michael Jackson’s Estate

Sony Corp. has been exploring the sale of its Sony/ATV Music Publishing unit, the company’s recently leaked internal emails suggest.

The music publisher, co-owned by Sony and the estate of the late pop star Michael Jackson , is the world’s biggest and is highly profitable, according to people familiar with the matter. Estimated to be worth between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, it owns the copyrights to most of the Beatles’ songs, among thousands of others.

It was unclear from documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal whether Sony is considering selling just its stake in the venture, or whether the whole unit might be put up for sale. Also unclear was the price Sony expects the publishing business to fetch, or when the company might try to sell it.

Spokesmen for Sony and Sony/ATV declined to comment.

For Sony, the potential sale would represent an easy and logical way to raise cash to prop up its long-struggling electronics division, according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking. Sony posted a $1.2 billion net loss for the quarter ended Sept. 30.

The possible sale of Sony/ATV was mentioned in emails last month between top Sony executives. The emails were among the thousands of documents leaked several weeks ago by hackers trying to stop the release of the Sony Pictures film “The Interview,” a lowbrow comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. U.S. officials have blamed the cyberattack on North Korea, and President Barack Obama last week promised a “proportional response.” North Korea temporarily lost Internet connectivity Monday, though the U.S. hasn’t taken responsibility for the outage.

Following Sony’s annual “mid-range plan” meeting last month, the Tokyo-based secretary for Sony Vice President Kazuhiko Takeda sent an email to Sony Entertainment Chief Executive Michael Lynton, requesting a response to a number of “follow-up” items discussed at the meeting. A list of the discussion items appeared to have been attached to the email. Six other executives, including Sony Corp. of America Chief Financial Officer Steve Kober, were copied.


Later that day, Mr. Kober sent a private email to Mr. Lynton, offering to take the lead on responding to Mr. Takeda but asking Mr. Lynton not to forward the first email to “anyone in your organization,” because the attached list of discussion items included “a follow-up point talking about the sale of Sony/ATV.”

“As you are aware, we are trying to keep this top secret and manage this among a very small group,” Mr. Kober wrote in his email.

Sony Corp. of America President Nicole Seligman also emailed Mr. Lynton that day warning him not to forward the note from Mr. Takeda’s secretary.

The email “mentions the ATV issue,” Ms. Seligman wrote. “We have asked that it be deleted going forward.”

Mr. Jackson, the late pop star, bought ATV Music Publishing for $47.5 million in 1985, and sold Sony a 50% stake in the business for $90 million 10 years later, creating the joint-venture. He died in 2009 while preparing for a comeback tour.

In 2012, Sony and Mr. Jackson’s estate joined with other investors, including Abu-Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Co. and music mogul David Geffen, to acquire EMI Music Publishing for $2.2 billion. Sony/ATV Music now administers the EMI catalog on the investor group’s behalf.

It was unclear from the leaked Sony emails whether EMI would be packaged with Sony/ATV in a sale.

Activist investor Daniel Loeb had been urging Sony for more than a year to sell some of its entertainment assets to focus on its electronics business. But Mr. Loeb no longer has sway: his hedge fund, Third Point, sold its 7% stake in the company in October.
 
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. So much for keeping it "top secret".
 
I'd love to be a fly on the wall wherever Branca is now. Will be interesting to see how the estate will play this.
 
How is that split out? What is the 400 million for, do you think? Is that all salaries and debt for buying EMI? And is it from the 100 million they have to share with the songwriters?
I'm surprised it's that low.
 
^^

I checked Estate accounting which showed $17.5 Million from Sony/ATV (and Estate uses $10 Million of it to pay the loan on MJ's share)

So now I'm wondering if it could be $100 Million operating profit minus taxes divided by two could equal $17.5 Million.

$17.5 Million a year is a decent income for MJ Estate but it's really low for a company at Sony's size. (It's possible that Sony is getting more - fees for managing the catalog)

And is it from the 100 million they have to share with the songwriters?

no I don't think so. Operating profit/ operating income is revenues minus costs, expenses. What they give to the songwriters should be among cost/expenses I believe.
 
Last edited:
Well, assuming that the estate would want to keep its stake, any potential sale deal will be structured so it does not lose its stake entirely.
 
Interesting. With people not really buying music any more it was expected that the value of the catalog would go down. And what about that thing that we read a couple of years ago about the rights of the Beatles songs slowly going back to McCartney/Lennon's heirs after a time?

I know a lot of MJ fans attach a lot of emotional value to this catalog, but I hope the Estate will make the right decision business-wise, whether it is to keep or sell it.
 
Personally i think the Jackson estate should find a way to regain full ownership of Sony/ATV.. as well as creating a collectors label in association with other companies that Michael worked with in his lifetime.
 
Personally i think the Jackson estate should find a way to regain full ownership of Sony/ATV..

Only if it's a good move business-wise. I hope whatever decision they make it will be based on reasonable business prospects, not on (fan) emotions. Sony wanting to get rid of it tells us that it may not be such a good business on the long term. But it's possible that what would not be good business for them it could be good business for the Estate. Anyway, I just hope they make the best decision whatever it is.
 
I hate that some media reports refer to the socalled Beatles catalog that - this is Sony/ATV.
THIS IS NOT the so-called the Beatles catalog, its Sony/ATV/EMI Music Publishing and its consisting of 3 MILLION SONGS of which only 256 are the Beatles songs... including Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Eminem, Beyonce, Elvis Presley, and thousands of other artists.

We should comment the articles and show them how they are wrong!



MJ Estate (awa MJ before) has stated and insisted that MJs 50% share in that multibillion music publishing company IS NOT FOR SALE!!!
There is no reason to sell Sony/ATV, so this info is nothing BS (IF - Sony/ATV sees revenues of about $510 million on its own and another $115 for administrating EMI's catalogue, which has revenues of about $725
million itself).

MICHAEL JACSKON WAS THE REAL MUSIC MOGUL, THE BILLIORAIRE, despite the media hatred and attempt to portray him as a broke... something...

Anyway... this info came from the hacked emails, so its not official that something like the seeling of the Sony/ATv has been something real and considered..., maybe its BS.
 
Personally i think the Jackson estate should find a way to regain full ownership of Sony/ATV.. as well as creating a collectors label in association with other companies that Michael worked with in his lifetime.

If the sellers want to obtain an optimum price, it would need a plethora of potential suitors, so it likely would have to sell all the publishing assets.
Billboard estimates a sale of both catalogs would bring in about $3 billion-$3.5 billion.

So... the MJ Estate has to find the $3 billion-$3.5 billion.
 
Interesting. With people not really buying music any more it was expected that the value of the catalog would go down. And what about that thing that we read a couple of years ago about the rights of the Beatles songs slowly going back to McCartney/Lennon's heirs after a time?

The same could be said about any musician out there. PM also owns the rights to other artists work and those rights are also reversible going by that same logic.

in the end, who would want to invest in an asset that is supposedly going to lose value if the rights revert back to artists at some point?

I do think the media made a huge fuss over MJ due to their resentment of him. before MJ came into the picture, they couldn't care less who owned it. so they use MJ ownership of the catalog to prejudice him publicly. same when he Married LMP. the way they reported it was as if MJ committed another crime. even today, they still prejudice him for that.
 
If sony want to sell their half they can do what they want.all that matters to me is it goes to someone who will work with the estate i just hope they dont have power to sell all of it without the estate permission in a neverland type screwed deal. sony need the money and need to consilidate how many fingers they have in x amount of pies as the article says so this maybe something they can look to off load. estate and sony are two very different entities though in the assets they have and what they want to achieve.

the estate imo would only be able to be involved in buying them out if they create a deal like what happened with EMI with several ppl buying a % even more so than emi cause its a bigger company. no one will buy it out right
 
Interesting. With people not really buying music any more it was expected that the value of the catalog would go down. And what about that thing that we read a couple of years ago about the rights of the Beatles songs slowly going back to McCartney/Lennon's heirs after a time? .

Well they earn whenever the music is used, in a show or in a commercial. And even if the Beatels rights go back to McCartney, they are only a small part (250 songs) of the catolg which contains I think about 700000 songs.


And the 17 Mio. income for the Estate, I agree it`s not that big, but when it is steady year-income it`s
very lucrative. In 10 years 170 Mio, I think it`s more lucrative in a long run as to make a big money wiht a sell (maybe 500 Mio.) and the lost of all the further steady income.
 
Last edited:
Sony can't sell Michael's part, can they?

It was unclear from documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal whether Sony is considering selling just its stake in the venture, or whether the whole unit might be put up for sale. Also unclevar was the price Sony expects the publishing business to fetch, or when the company might try to sell it.

Spokesmen for Sony and Sony/ATV declined to comment.


Wouldn't that mean the Estate is selling one of its assets and therefore it's going to need a judge approval?
 
Say say say it isn’t so: Sale of catalog mulled in hacked e-mails
By Claire Atkinson
December 24, 2014 | 12:05am

Someone better call Paul McCartney.

Sony is considering putting its lucrative music publishing business, which owns the rights to the Beatles back catalog, on the block.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant discussed a possible sale of Sony/ATV — half-owned by Michael Jackson’s estate — as recently as Nov. 21, according to e-mails exposed by hackers.

Sony declined to comment on the e-mails, which were first reported by Bloomberg News.

Music execs had already heard whispers that Sony might consider selling the business, in part because it’s unhappy with the complex ownership structure.

“I think Paul McCartney would buy it and [Warner Music owner] Len Blavatnik, but most likely you’ll have a consortium of folks,” said one source.

Billionaire media mogul David Geffen, who is a part-owner of the business, might also be interested.

Sony/ATV was formed in 1995 as a joint venture between Sony and Jackson. As the world’s biggest music publisher, it houses many of McCartney’s copyrights. The former Beatle lost out on his song catalog in a bidding war against the late king of pop.

Universal Music Group, which just hired Sony/ATV’s No. 2 Jody Gerson to run its publishing unit, may take a look, although it’s unclear if regulators would allow further consolidation after Universal swallowed EMI’s recorded music unit two years ago.

The value on the Sony/ATV asset alone is between $1.5 billion to $2 billion, a source said.

Sony/ATV also has a 30 percent stake in a separate music publishing business that was acquired for $2.2 billion from EMI.

The other owners include Blackstone’s GSO Capital, Mubadala Development Co. and Jynwel Capital. Sony is said to have agreed that the partners would have an option to fully acquire the asset at a later date.

Together, Sony/ATV and EMI Publishing own 2.8 million song copyrights, including those of Taylor Swift.

Top-secret corporate e-mail conversations show that Sony’s chief financial officer, Kenichiro Yoshida, asked about selling the business in an e-mail to Sony Corp. boss Kaz Hirai and Sony’s US chief Michael Lynton.

“I’d like to hear your thoughts on the Music Publishing business, which has a rather complex capital and governance structure and is impacted by the market shift to streaming,” Yoshida wrote.

The Sony unit, run by Martin Bandier, expects sales to rise 13 percent over the next three years, to $617 million, in 2018, according to internal documents cited by Bloomberg. Operating profit will grow 23 percent to $123 million over the same period.

http://nypost.com/2014/12/24/say-say-say-it-isnt-so-sale-of-catalog-mulled-in-hacked-e-mails/
 
The e-mails were released as part of a devastating hack on Sony that the FBI said was committed by North Korea over the Hollywood studio’s plan to release the satirical movie “The Interview” about an assassination plot against the nation’s leader, Kim Jong Un.


Why did Sony make a movie like this in the first place?

You are right have to wait and see how the Estate will play this. The Estste has been going through alot with these two cases Wade/James and now this wow.
 
It prob should be in News rather than trials.

I think the two threads should be merged and be in the News section. There is nothing "trials and tribulations" in this.

Well I didn't think it was "Michael Jackson news" given it came from leaked emails, it wasn't clear if / when it would be put up for sale and it wasn't clear if it was only Sony's share or the whole catalog. In other words I didn't think Sony considering to sell their own share was "Michael Jackson news" but more suitable as rumor / controversy. But why not alert a mod so that they can merge and place the thread?

Personally i think the Jackson estate should find a way to regain full ownership of Sony/ATV..

Well Sony/ATV is rumored to worth 1.5 to 2 Billion. That would place the value of Sony's share at 750 Million to 1 Billion. Given Estate is still paying debts on MJ's share and they are facing Estate taxes, the odds that they can buy a $750 Million to $1 Billion asset is slim to none in my opinion.
 
Last edited:
Tis interesting.

It is clear Sony is looking to sell assets because of their failing electronics division. The failure is there, not necessarily in the Sony/ATV catalog and/or EMI Publishing.

Sony/ATV and EMI does need a restructuring of its business model so as to be more effective and reflective of the current climate. I wish them luck there. I believe the current reports are combining the revenue/operating profit of Sony/ATV and EMI as a music publishing total which speaks to that restructuring need. I have not seen any numbers for Sony/ATV solely as of yet.

While some are speculating Sony may have been looking to sell its EMI stake, that is speculation indeed and I would disagree with that angle. The Sony/ATV catalog would be one of the more profitable assets for Sony to sell and far easier because it has two owners. If Sony decides to sell Sony/ATV, I am sure the MJ Estate would agree quite readily and it will be a joint sale. (Adding: Sony/ATV would most likely be absorbed by EMI Publishing.)

Provided that time arrives, I can understand some fans being outraged as it would be their right. I would remind them however that while Michael preferred not to sell his assets and did what he could to save them, Sony and Michael's estate does not necessarily have any personal attachment to such assets. (See Neverland.)

If Sony is inclined to sell to save their failing electronics division, so be it.
 
Last edited:
Well I didn't think it was "Michael Jackson news" given it came from leaked emails, it wasn't clear if / when it would be put up for sale and it wasn't clear if it was only Sony's share or the whole catalog. In other words I didn't think Sony considering to sell their own share wasn't "Michael Jackson news" but more suitable as rumor / controversy. But why not alert a mod so that they can merge and place the thread?

I tried to, but the mod whom I saw online (Daryll748) has his PM option turned off, so I could not PM him. I hoped he would see that there are two threads about the same topic, but apparently he did not so far.
 
It's merged now I believe. I sent an alert last night.

Never mind. They had it merged in News and now the whole thing has been moved to Trials.
 
Last edited:
Sony hack: Sony Exploring Sale of SONY ATV

Sony Corp is considering a sale of its Sony/ATV Music Publishing unit, which owns the rights to most of the Beatles' songs, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing the company's leaked internal emails.


The unit, which Sony owns jointly with deceased pop star Michael Jackson's estate, is estimated to be worth $1.5 billion-$2 billion, the Journal said.
Sony/ATV Music declined to comment on the report.


It is currently not clear if Sony will sell its stake in the unit or the entire business will be put on the block, the Journal said.


The leaked documents do not indicate an expected price and the timing of a potential sale, the newspaper said.


Sony is still reeling from the disclosures in documents released by computer hackers, which have exposed internal discussions key to the company's future to public scrutiny.
 
Re: Sony hack: Sony Exploring Sale of SONY ATV

Sony Reportedly Considering Sale of Music Publishing Division
The Hollywood Reporter By Ed Christman, Billboard
December 24, 2014 12:03 AM
????

Sony Corp. has been considering a sale of its music publishing operation, according to a Bloomberg report on the latest leak of hacked Sony emails.


The details of the Sony/ATV Music Publishing's potential sale were being handled by Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton, Sony Corp. of America president Nicole Seligman and Sony Corp. of America CFO Steve Kober, according to Bloomberg, which cited an email from Kober dated Nov. 21.


In an Oct. 3 email, Bloomberg reports, Sony CFO Kenichro Yoshida raised concerns about the music publishing business, "which has a rather complex capital and governance structure and is impacted by the market shift to streaming."


Sony/ATV is a 50/50 joint-venture between Sony Corp. and the Michael Jackson estate. In addition, those two partners also own a combined 39.8 percent -- 29.8 percentage points by Sony and almost 10 percentage points by the Jackson estate -- of EMI Music Publishing, thanks to a consortium put together by then-Sony Corp. of America CFO Rob Wiesenthal. That consortium, which also consists of Mubadala Development, Jynwel Capital Ltd., the Blackstone Group's GSO Partners and David Geffen, paid $2.2 billion in June 2012 for EMI's publishing catalog.


Sony/ATV and EMI's publishing assets include such crown jewels as the former's Beatles catalog and the latter's Motown catalog. Sony/ATV sees revenues of about $510 million on its own and another $115 for administrating EMI's catalogue, which has revenues of about $725 million itself.


Further details of the sale plan -- including possible suitors -- are unknown, the Bloomberg report noted. So it couldn't be determined if Sony was looking to sell all of its publishing assets, or its portion of the EMI Music Publishing catalog. It's also unclear if the subject of Sony selling its portion of EMI has been broached with the rest of the consortium.


In any event, if all the publishing assets were put up for sale, knowledgeable industry sources tell Billboard its unlikely that EU regulators would let Universal Music Group make such an acquisition. Likewise, the Warner Music Group would also face regulatory difficulties if it tried an outright acquisition of the combined publishing assets. The only reason the EU let Sony/ATV buy EMI originally is because it was as part of a consortium, and it made it sell off about $100 million in publishing assets at the time.


See more Hollywood's Most Fascinating Legal Sagas, From Casey Kasem to Michael Jackson


More likely suitors for all of the publishing would include either private equity firms, or a major film studio like Disney, or Bertelsmann-owned BMG Rights Management, a growing power once again in the music business.


But for the exception that the EMI retains its own financial accounting department, the Sony/ATV and EMI staffs have been combined into one team that promotes both catalogs. As such, it seems unlikely that a private equity firm could acquire the EMI catalog without also purchasing Sony/ATV and its staff. If the sellers want to obtain an optimum price, it would need a plethora of potential suitors, so it likely would have to sell all the publishing assets. Billboard estimates a sale of both catalogs would bring in about $3 billion-$3.5 billion.


A Sony/ATV spokesman declined comment on the report. John Branca, who co-manages the Jackson estate, didn't respond to a request to comment.
 
Back
Top