EU antitrust authorities will rule by August 1 whether to allow Sony Corp buy out the Michael Jackson estate's stake in its music publishing joint venture, a move which rivals such as Warner Music Group say gives Sony too much power.
Sony requested approval on June 24, according to a filing on the European Commission website. The EU competition enforcer can clear the deal unconditionally or demand concessions.
It can also open a five-month long investigation if it has serious concerns the deal may harm consumers and rivals.
Sony signed a deal in March to acquire the stake that the deceased pop star held in Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the world's largest music publisher, which owns copyrights to most of the Beatles' songs and songs by the Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West.
Warner Music Group has conveyed its concerns to the Commission, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, while lobbying group Impala which represents independent labels and national trade associations, has also done the same.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.