Terra Firma Loses To Citi, Could Mean End Of EMI
(UPDATED) A NYC has jury ruled today that a Citigroup banker did not lie to Guys Hands and Terra Firma about a rival bid. The loss could force Terra Firma to relinquish control of EMI to Citi who both brokered the purchase and is the main lender providing $4.23 billion in financing
The jurors deliberated for just four hours over two days before reaching their verdict after a contentious three week trial. Citi has already written off $1.63 billion of the debt saying that EMI is only worth just under $3 billion now.
Throughout the trial, CitiGroup lawyers contend that Hands had simply made a bad deal that he (and they) now had to live with. "Guy Hands couldn’t fight technology,” said a Citi attorney early this week. “No one’s buying records anymore.”
If Terra Firma is unable to meet its debt obligations and relinquishes control of EMI, most observers believe that the company would be split up and sold. Several parties including WMG (for the record division) and BMG (publishing) have publicly expressed interest in the past.
This is just more proof the music industry is not what it use to be. I hope artists are paying to these new developments and adjust their game plans accordingly.
you mean as in ‘get a frikkin’ job, loser’?
or ‘sell lots of T-shirts, like upcoming artists Madonna and Jay-Z’?
as goes EMI, so goes Drag City, SST, etc
the less, the merrier!
This is because the quick rich fad of boy bands. no cares they are on 20,000,000 of them out there why buy them just pirate them off the net. sign some real artist and get them records selling.what the hell happen to ‘ Back To The Drawing Board ‘ we as Americans are getting dumber by the days.
Can anyone chime in and let me know if this means The CITI logo is gonna start appearing on my publishing checks?
It really is difficult to find any in depth coverage of this case.