Sony and Mubadala’s Takeover of EMI’s Music Publishing Approved by Commission

April 24, 2012

The European Commission approved the acquisition of EMI’s music publishing division for $2.2 billion by Sony Corporation of the USA and Mubadala Development Company PJSC, an investment fund based in the United Arab Emirates, on Thursday, stipulating that the group must sell the publishing rights to four catalogs and 12 contemporary artists.

The deal makes Sony’s publishing division, which was the fourth-largest before the merger, the largest. EMI’s publishing group manages the rights to songs of the Beatles, Beach Boys and others.

“Sony and Mubadala have offered to divest valuable and attractive catalogues containing bestselling titles as well as works of successful and promising authors,” Joaquín Almunia, the commission’s vice president in charge of competition policy said in a statement. “I am therefore satisfied that the competitive dynamics in the online music publishing business will be maintained so as to ensure consumer choice and cultural diversity.”