Play it again

6 May 2011 By Jeffrey Goldfarb Follow @jgfarb

Under Edgar Bronfman the company bested rivals but is still selling to Len Blavatnik for half the 2005 IPO price. The billionaire is a relative insider unlikely to bring big fresh ideas. Outsiders haven’t fared any better. It sounds like another financial engineering refrain.

This content is for Subscribers only

Context News

Billionaire Len Blavatnik's Access Industries agreed to buy Warner Music for $3.3 billion. The purchase price of $8.25 a share is less than half the $17 at which the company went public six years ago. It represents a 34 percent premium to the volumeweighted average share price over the last six months.

Private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital and Providence Equity bought the company in conjunction with Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman for $2.6 billion from Time Warner in 2003. They still own a majority of Warner Music, and Bronfman's stake is about 7 percent.

Email a friend

Please complete the form below.

Required fields *