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Live Nation interested in Warner labels
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 1 April 2011
So this is interesting, according to the Wall Street Journal a new bidder has entered into the Warner Music race – a certain Live Nation. Little is known about the company’s bid, but it is thought its offer is one of seven currently being reviewed by Goldman Sachs, the bankers hired by Warner’s current owners to advise on a full or partial sale of the music major.
A few years back when all talk was of a potential EMI/Warner merger, we noted how Live Nation merging with one or the other of the music rights majors would possibly make more sense, given the future of the music industry is clearly big companies having interests in multiple strands of the business.
Plus a Live Nation-owned Warner Music would have caused fewer regulatory concerns amongst the competition authorities than a Warner/EMI merger, though that was before Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster, bringing dominance in the ticketing sector and a major stake in the artist management domain. So much so, if Live Nation bids for even some of Warner – some reckon it’s the record labels it wants – was to be successful some sort of anti-trust investigation would surely follow.
Still, a combined Live Nation/Warner Records would still be an interesting company, even if it would cause concern to competition regulators and the independent companies which would surely lobby them. So much so, it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on this bid.
