Sony BMG’s Future In Bertlesmann’s Hands. EMI Seeks Partners In Publishing Bid.

Sony CEO Howard Stringer said today that the future of the Sony BMG partnership would be determined by how BMG parent Bertlesmann decides decides to repay its debt.

"I don’t have all the cards. At the moment, the decision by Bertelsmann as to how they pay back that debt is up to them," Stringer told a media roundtable when asked if he was interested in taking a controlling stake in the venture. "And while we are in close negotiations and obviously there are some opportunities for us, in the end, they have to decide how they want to go forward".

Last week BMG officials asserted there intention to keep the label partnership intact by selling its separate publishing division to settle its debts. Reuters is reporting that EMI is putting a private equity partnership to bid for BMG’s publishing.  The move would side-step a potentially difficult regulatory look at combining such large catalogs as well as keep EMI’s cash and credit free to up their bid for the Warner Music Group.

Source: Reuters on Sony BMG and EMI.