European regulators
reaffirmed Wednesday their
decision to clear the
combination of the music
businesses of Sony Corp. and
the German media company
Bertelsmann AG.
The European Commission
cleared the deal for a
second time after a court
ripped up the original
approval and told regulators
to look at it again. The
deal between the Japanese
entertainment and technology
company Sony and the
Bertelsmann Music Group
created the world's
second-largest record label
and brought artists like
Shakira, George Michael,
Avril Lavigne and Elvis
Presley under one roof. The
deal brought together labels
such as Arista, Jive, Epic
and Columbia.
The EU's executive arm said
it had looked carefully at
the deal and concluded that
"the transaction would not
create or strengthen a
dominant or collectively
dominant position in the
music markets" of Europe.
The legality of the deal was
called into question when
the European Union's Court
of First Instance criticized
regulators for not doing
enough to prove that the two
companies would not damage
competition in the music
industry by reducing the
number of major music
companies from five to four.
Source: Google
