Is this the end for EMI as we know it? Rumours are floating around New York and London that EMI’s owner, greedy Guy Hands of private equity company Terra Firma, says the saga could be over by Christmas. He’s supposedly been telling investors that he’s got no option but to hand the company over to financiers CitiGroup after losing a last ditch court case which argued that they’d ripped him off in the sale, and saw him pay almost 50% more than the company was worth.
He’d have to fork out almost $300 million to avoid the company defaulting on its debt. The only problem is that CitiGroup has no real idea how to run a record company. It will most likely sell off the music publishing business to one of its rivals, while the recorded music division would inevitably go for a song.
Expect massive staff cuts and any underperforming artists to be dropped as the company further downsizes. Trading under its local labels of Virgin and Capitol, the company has artists such as The Cat Empire, You Am I, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Angus & Julia Stone, Chasing Bailey, Paul Kelly, Airbourne, Tina Arena, Clare Bowditch, End Of Fashion, Kasey Chambers, Neil Finn, Tim Finn, The Sleepy Jackson and Empire of The Sun.
