The job market ain’t so great these days, as everyone knows, but high-priced top notch talent is always in demand. Just look at Sony Music and you sure do see the high-priced part of the equation. However a chief executive who is a consummate deal-maker, a financial wizard and technological visonary is always hard...
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Thanks to my sources inside Warner Music, I have exclusively obtained a copy of Edgar Bronfman, Jr.’s latest memo to the company: Dear Colleagues: As Warner Music Group begins its next chapter, well-positioned for some truly exciting and unprecedented opportunities, I am writing you today to inform you of my decision to leave the...
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Industry sources tell me that Sean Parker is working furiously behind the scenes with Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies to put together a winning bid for EMI. According to insiders, Parker really wants this to happen. The main competition seems to be Junior Bronfman, who’s new duties at Warner Music seem to consist solely of trying...
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When Warner Music announced that Junior Bronfman was getting kicked upstairs and being replaced as CEO by sexagenarian Stephen Cooper, a turnaround specialist and long-time Blavatnik associate, could mark the beginning of the end for Junior as well as the entry of yet another non-music industry guy in a top position. The reports have...
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The dog days are here and it’s tough to concentrate on much of anything, really. I’ve been hanging out on the beach reading and observing events around the recent debt ceiling debate. It occurred to me that there are an unusual number of similarities between the music industry and my favorite moronic movement, the...
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A member of the Warner Music Group board of directors is about to become embroiled in a copyright infringement lawsuit against CNET and its owners CBS Interactive that could be extremely embarrassing for the music company and bring unwanted attention to the pending sale of WMG to investor Len Blavatnik. Plaintiffs in the copyright...
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If you’ll recall, in my post yesterday I made reference to Lyor Cohen’s platinum-lined golden parachute and his claim that Warner pays big bucks to attract and retain “the very finest, most seasoned, most creative, thoughtful, transformative” executives in the business, the same guys who have lost hundreds of millions of dollars for the...
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The game is on. Citi has started preparing the final papers for the auctioning of EMI. The bidding floor is expected to be $2.5 billion, according to a report last week in The Wrap by Johnnie L. Roberts, with at least half a dozen buyers readying offers. Of course Len Blavatnik’s name is the...
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Now that Warner Music has been sold the next big event will be the imminent sale of EMI Music. Most observers assume that Access Industries, the new owner of Warner, and CEO Junior Bronfman will go after EMI. The conventional wisdom is that the savings resulting from a combined Warner-EMI would be substantial enough...
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