Quartararo Near Deal With Warner Bros. Records

Phil Quartararo, president of Virgin Records U.S., is close to completing a deal with Time Warner Inc. to become president of Warner Bros. Records, sources said. No contract has been signed, but sources close to the negotiations said an announcement regarding Quartararo’s hiring is expected within weeks. Sources said Quartararo was approached months ago to join the label by Warner Bros. Records chief Russ Thyret and met last week to hammer out a deal with Bob Daly and Terry Semel, co-chairmen of Warner Music Group. Daly, Semel and Thyret were not available for comment. In an interview on Monday, Quartararo, whose contract with Virgin runs out in March, denied that a deal with Warner was in the works.