Diminuendo

31 March 2003

There is an element of hyperbole in the music company’s planning assumption, which it is using to justify job cuts. But it is no wonder the industry’s merger flirtations aren’t leading anywhere. Why bulk up in an industry in apparently terminal decline?

This content is for Subscribers only

Context News

Sony Music is planning to cope with a 15% fall in global music sales in 2003, according to a report in the Financial Times. The company's new chief executive, Andy Lack, has announced plans to reduce its workforce by 1,000, or about 10%. Sony Music's planning assumption is significantly worse than its peers', whose guidance is that music sales should be flat in 2003, having fallen nearly 10% in 2002.

Sony Music is a subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation, which also owns assets in the electronics, film, computer game, and financial services industries. In the nine months to 31 December, Sony Music's sales were down 8.1% on the same period in the previous year, to $1.7bn. Operating profit for the period was down 9.5% to $174m.

Informal, tentative, merger talks have been taking place erratically for some time among the music industry's main players, including Sony Music, Bertelsmann's BMG arm, Vivendi's Universal Music, and EMI.

Context News

Email a friend

Please complete the form below.

Required fields *