Haye! >From the NY Post online edition. Sorry if it's allready been posted. Seems the big are getting bigger. Kind of reminds me of kids ganging up on other kids...
Lay "no hope, no dreams, no love, the only escape is Underground" http://barkingcat.org/counterforce - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SONY-BMG WOULD BE MUSIC LEADER by LISA BROWNLEE Sony and Bertelsmann are said to be contemplating a music merger that would dwarf last week's announced Warner-EMI joint venture and create the biggest music company on the planet. Reps of the two companies reportedly met in Japan to talk about a possible combination. A Bertlesmann spokeswoman declined to comment. Sony officials couldn't be reached. Both companies are under pressure to respond to the announcement last week of the blockbuster joint venture between Warner and EMI. Without a deal of their own, Sony would be No. 3 in global market share and Bertelsmann's BMG would fall to No. 4. A Sony-BMG deal would whittle the number of the world's music superpowers to three: Sony-BMG, Warner-EMI and Seagram's Universal. Industry analysts have put Warner-EMI's combined 1999 market share at nearly 26 percent, outpacing Universal's, which stood at nearly 22 percent last year. But a deal between Sony Music and BMG would eclipse them all, with combined 1999 sales of $10 billion and global market share of 29 percent. Sony Music, headed by veteran music exec Tommy Mottola, has major acts including Mariah Carey and Will Smith and is equal partners with Time Warner in the Columbia House music club business, which is being merged with publicly traded on-line music retailer CDNow. BMG's roster of artists includes Santana, Whitney Houston and TLC. Bertelsmann head honcho Thomas Middelhoff has brazenly said he wants to catapult his German media company into the top spot among music-industry players. Since news of the Warner-EMI deal, buzz has swirled that Middelhoff has considered counter-bidding more than $9 billion for EMI. Bertelsmann officials denied that report. Nevertheless, industry analysts have been saying that both Middelhoff and Mottola are under mounting pressure to make a move. Middelhoff has said he would build his war chest with high-tech IPOs, and he's reportedly poised to pursue $10 billion in deals over the next couple of years. ------------- [POLBOX - REKLAMA] --------------- Szukasz firmy? Kliknij http://www.pkt.pl Polskie Ksiazki Telefoniczne ------------------------------------------------
