New Hope for EMI, Time Warner Music Deal

EMI Group’s planned $20-billion joint venture with Time Warner’s music arm may still be saved after the European Commission called a special meeting of European Union merger experts. The EU’s Advisory Committee on Mergers will meet Thursday to discuss the deal, an unusual step that suggests eleventh-hour concessions by the companies may have persuaded the commission to reverse its earlier plan to block the deal on competition grounds. “It can’t be ruled out that things are moving,” one EU source said, referring to the possibility that the deal could be saved. He said the commission was working on a proposal to present to the Advisory Committee but no firm decision had been made. The companies were still talking to the commission, the EU’s competition watchdog, in a last-ditch bid to save their joint venture but were unwilling to comment on the discussions. Last week, EU sources said the commission was planning to block the creation of Warner EMI Music on the grounds it would reduce the number of “major” record labels to four from five and allow the remaining players collectively to dominate the market.