Word: emi
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...appear on television, but the turn-off-the-lights story is typical of a man who is both fiercely competitive and entertainingly playful. He chases artists signed to other music companies with fervor, personally persuading the Rolling Stones to switch over from rival record company EMI two years ago. And once he's wooed acts, he can keep them on board - no small achievement in an industry not short of ego. When he was honored at London's Grosvenor Hotel with a Music Industry Trust Award in November 2008, he was feted by some of the biggest names...
...gradually moved up the ranks at the company, which would later become Universal following a merger with MCA. Eventually, under the tutelage of Doug Morris, the Universal chief executive he'll be replacing, Grainge rose to run the company's U.K. headquarters and then its international operations. As EMI has faltered in recent years, he has become a key force behind helping British acts break into the U.S. market, most notably, the troubled Winehouse. (Read a TIME profile of Amy Winehouse...
...exile on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel, needs to inject about $200 million into the business by the summer; otherwise, Citigroup gets the keys. His allies say he can raise the money from third-party investors, but that is only enough to keep EMI out of the bank's hands for 12 more months. What Hands really needs is a deal with Citigroup to slash EMI's debts. But like any good band in crisis, Hands and his onetime partners at Citigroup have fallen out. (See the top 10 albums...
Last summer, Hands proposed a deal in which he would inject $1.56 billion into EMI if Citigroup wrote off about the same amount in debt. Citigroup said no and offered instead to write off $1.56 billion in debt in return for controlling ownership of the company. Hands refused and then sued Citigroup, claiming the bank had persuaded him to pay too much for EMI in the first place. Now the two sides aren't speaking. Hands says Citigroup is playing "hardball for no good reason," while the bank feels that Hands is being unrealistic in his demand to remain...
Meanwhile, one possible buyer lurks on the sidelines: Warner Music, the third largest record company in the world. CEO Edgar Bronfman has long coveted EMI, but mutual intransigence has thus far prevented a merger. Some Terra Firma officials fear that Citigroup simply wants to "flip" EMI by making a quick sale to Warner - a plan Citigroup denies. In its present state, however, EMI's future as an independent company is far from certain. "The trouble is that the future of EMI would look quite good if it wasn't for all the debt," Dyson says. "But it doesn't look...