EMI Rejects Warner, Agrees to Private Takeover by Terra Firma

Fans of EMI's decision to release music without DRM can rest easy; Warner Music Group's bid to take over the smallest of its fellow major labels, EMI, has apparently failed. EMI's board has recommended to its shareholders that they vote for the proposed acquisition by private equity firm Terra Firma for £3.2 billion (that's including debt; the shares themselves are apparently worth £2.4 billion).

If Warner had acquired EMI, I suspect EMI's catalog would have found itself DRM-ed once again, as soon as contracts with iTunes, Amazon, and others were to have run out, since WMG CEO Edgar Bronfman still appears to think that DRM holds the answer to the music industry's woes.

It's unclear what the Terra Firma acquisition means for EMI's stance on digital rights management, although the board's approbation indicates that their approach could be similar to EMI's current one.
Terra Firma head Guy Hands said that the deal would help EMI

"build on its current position as one of the world'sleading music companies and accelerate the development of its digitaland online strategy to fully exploit this long-term growth opportunity."

There's not much there, other than a hint that Terra Firma plans to continue pursuing the digital musicmarket. EMI's chairman John Gildersleeve, meanwhile, appeared more cautious:

"The global music industry is undergoing significantchange... Whilst EMI is confident in its ability to deliver itsrecently announced restructuring plans, significant uncertainty existsas to the timing and extent of future market developments."

(via billboard and bbc)