CBS Turns Deaf Ear to Several Bids for Records Unit

CBS has had offers to purchase its booming records unit from such diverse bidders as Walt Disney Productions, Triangle Industries and CBS Records President Walter R. Yetnikoff, but so far none has been generous enough to consider selling, company sources said Tuesday.

CBS Records has not been formally put up for sale, and most analysts have until now speculated that the ailing broadcaster would not part with the property in view of the unit’s recent sterling performance. But widespread publicity about CBS’ interest in selling assets to bolster its financial position has drawn inquiries about sale of the records unit, as it has with the magazine group.

Laurence A. Tisch, acting CBS chief executive, believes that he should listen to all such offers, the company sources say. “Even if it isn’t for sale, at some point the bids get so high you have to take them to the board for consideration,” a source said. “So far they haven’t gotten to there.”

Yetnikoff has approached the company about purchasing the unit on behalf of an investor group, in the same way that Peter A. Derow, recently ousted president of CBS Publishing Group, has made an offer for the magazine unit on behalf of another group. Triangle Industries is a New York-based manufacturer of a products that include juke boxes, background music systems and copper wire.

With such successes as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to its credit, CBS Records Group is currently growing far faster than the company’s broadcast or magazine divisions. In the first nine months of this year, the division’s profits rose 54% to $100.6 million on an 8% revenue increase; broadcast group profits rose 2% and magazine group profits 14% during the same period.

The group accounted for just under 30% of CBS’ sales during the period. And the unit’s performance should be helped by the expected success of a new release, under CBS’ Columbia label, by rock star Bruce Springsteen.