Sony has for long been one of the biggest music publishers on the planet but from now on, it’s going to be the biggest publisher in the industry. The company today announced that it’s going to pay almost $2.3 billion to acquire a controlling stake in EMI Music Publishing. This subsequently makes Sony the biggest music publisher in the world.
Mubadala Investment Company previously owned an approximately 60 percent equity interest in EMI Music Publishing. It has decided to sell that to Sony and as a result of this transaction, Sony will indirectly own almost 90 percent of the equity interest in EMI which will now become a consolidated subsidiary of Sony.
This is one of the first major moves by new Sony President and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida. It gives the company a catalogue of over two million songs from the likes of Queen, Drake, Kanye West, and the Motown catalog.
Sony sees this investment in content intellectual property as a stepping stone for the company’s long-term growth. It’s counting on the gaining popularity of streaming services that have to license catalogues from publishers such as Sony to provide their services to subscribers.
While Sony has announced the deal today, it’s subject to certain closing conditions as well as regulatory approvals, but there’s no indication as yet to suggest that it may not be able to gain those approvals.