Universal must jettison some big EMI acts, including Coldplay and Pink Floyd, but can keep the lucrative Beatles catalog.
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BRUSSELS (AP) — Universal Music Group can buy the famed British music company EMI, including the hugely lucrative Beatles catalogue, the European Union's competition regulator said Friday, but must jettison some of the famed label's other big acts, including Coldplay and Pink Floyd.
Within hours, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission gave its approval tp Universal's $1.9 billion purchase, but set up no conditions.
Among EMI's assets that must go are Parlophone, home to those two British bands as well as Kylie Minogue and David Bowie. The Beatles, which is part of Parlophone, was exempted.
Universal will also have to sell off EMI's classical music divisions, its French and other local branches and labels that are home to Depeche Mode and The Ramones.
EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said that the fact that the companies involved trade in music made the case a particularly emotional one.
"This has been one of the most difficult discussions in my life as commissioner for competition because of ... the existence not only of an industry — we are used to dealing with mergers between companies in very different sectors — but the existence of a cultural dimension," said Almunia.
