Softbank tried to buy Universal Music during fight for Sprint

[marioc21]

But Vivendi turned down SoftBank's $8.5 Billion all cash offer.  

 

 

SoftBank, the Japanese telecoms group, proposed an $8.5bn bid for Universal Music, the world’s largest music group, about three months ago but was turned down, according to several people familiar with the proposal.

 

Vivendi, Universal’s French owner, has been under pressure to restructure its portfolio of telecoms and media assets but told SoftBank it was not interested because it saw the music company as central to its future strategy, these people said.

Vivendi and SoftBank declined to comment.

An $8.5bn offer, premised on the idea that music is some of the most heavily-consumed content on mobile devices, would value Universal at $2bn to $3bn above most analyst estimates.

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http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3bec5c9a-efc1-11e2-a237-00144feabdc0.html

 

 

 

[WiWavelength]

If it wanted to work out a deal with Vivendi, maybe SoftBank should have instead targeted the former Seagram assets.  Then, our smartphones could have had streaming ginger ale, tonic water, or Canadian whisky.

 

AJ