Pitchfork reported, on Friday, that the take-over of EMI by Universal has been approved by the U.S.’ Federal Trade Commission as well as the European Commission. The bid had already been approved in New Zealand in June by the NZ Commerce Commission (and has also been approved already by Canada, Japan, and Australia).
As Pitchfork puts it – the acquisition makes Universal an “even-bigger biggest music company in the world”.
Approval is, however, subject to Universal surrendering a third of EMI’s assets; it must sell Parlophone, Mute, Chrysalis, Ensign, EMI Classics, the Co-Op Music group, Sanctuary Records and Virgin Classics labels, as well as EMI’s share of the Now That’s What I Call Music! series within the next six months.
