EU To Rule On EMI Sony Publishing Deal This Thursday

The European Commission is expected to rule this Thursday on Sony’s proposed $2.2 billion purchase of EMI Music Publishing.  It's far from certain that EU or US regulators will just approve the deal without caveats, but documents leaked to the press offer a look inside the deal and point to massive layoffs.

A 74-page prospectus for a $1.1 billion bond offering prepared by UBS for Sony and leaked to the New York Times, states that the combined company plans to lay off about 63% of EMI's current work force of 515 within two years as part of an effort to achieve $70 million in savings.

It's also likely that several catalogs, including the European rights to EMI’s Virgin and Sony/ATV’s Famous Music catalogs, will be sold to both satisfy regulators and generate cash to help finance the takeover. Even after the sale of several catalogs, the combined publishing company if expected to be the world's largest with a 30% global marketshare.