It’s another week, so naturally it calls for another EMI dying a slow death story at Tone Deaf.
This time it’s like that stage of playing the game hangman and there’s only one or two letters left before the noose tightens for the final time. As we had previously reported, EMI was negotiating to lease its rather healthy music publishing division to one of its rivals to help it meet debt covenants with lender Citibank.
Guy Hands, the overlord of venture capitalists Terra Firma who paid way too much for EMI, is still desperately negotiating down to the last minute with Sony – who seem to have walked away from negotiations – and Universal Music Group, pleading for a stay of execution to obtain a capital injection to keep the stricken company afloat.
Time is running out for EMI as it needs the money injection to keep afloat under the terms of its debt to Citibank – which has the right to call in the loan and deem the company a dead man walking.
