Bids for EMI Much Lower Than Expected

Bids to buy the EMI Group, the major label that controls recordings by the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Katy Perry and Radiohead among many others, have been far lower than expected following the $3.3 billion sale of rival major label Warner Music Group in May, according to the New York Times.

EMI was purchased by Citigroup in February. The financial service conglomerate subsequently wrote down the company's debt by $3.5 billion before putting the label on the market in June.

So far four of the five parties who have bid on all or parts of EMI have been other music companies. Warner and Universal Music Group have both put in offers for EMI's recorded music division, while Sony and BMG Rights Management have bid on EMI's publishing arm.

Photos: Random Notes

According to the Times, the scale of bids for the respective units have been between $1 and $2 billion, and offers for the entire company have been lower than what Citi would get by splitting EMI in half. Though the last round of bids were submitted to EMI earlier this month, Citi may opt to hold off the auction until market conditions improve.

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Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

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