Sony offers no concessions to EU regulators in $2.3bn EMI bid
Sony has offered no concessions to the EU’s antitrust regulator in support of its $2.3bn (£1.8bn) bid for major record label EMI.
Sony had not submitted any proposed concessions by last Friday’s deadline, the European Commission’s website showed today.
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The Commission is set to decide whether to approve the merger this Friday, and it had asked Sony’s rivals whether it could use its greater market strength to get better deals on digital media.
Sony’s acquisition could get the green light this Friday, or the Commission could refer it for a full investigation.
The music giant is trying to take over EMI after buying a 30 per cent stake in the business back in 2012, when it agreed to EU-imposed concessions that it divest the publishing rights of four catalogues and the music of 12 artists in order to do so.
It then announced in May that it would seek to buy Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund’s 60 per cent stake in the label, and in July it acquired the estate of Michael Jackson’s minority stake.
The deal would value EMI at $4.75bn and, if approved, would give Sony a 90 per cent stake in the label, making it the world’s largest music publisher.
Sony would acquire the rights to more than 2m songs, from classic rock artists like Queen to modern pop and hip-hop giants such as Drake and Pink.
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A number of independent labels have raised concerns about the deal’s potential effects on competition, however, with independent music companies association Impala calling for the EU to block the deal.
“This is necessary to avoid long-term harm for consumers as well as other players in the music sector, from writers to streaming services, independent publishers, collecting societies and record companies,” it said in a statement earlier this year.