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Alain Levy was once struggling to save a firm that was so badly run it was nicknamed “Every Mistake Imaginable�. Now the head of recorded music of EMI is claiming that the company will survive even if the deal with Warner fails to close, EMI is now strong enough to thrive on its own.
According to Levy EMI’s bid to take over Warner Music is designed to create a company with the best new artists and the best back catalogue.

“It’s a fantastic way to build a future . . . and become the best music company in the world,� he said.

The EUROPEAN COMMISSION IS A THREAT TO THE DEAL

Levy conceded that the European ruling could make it nearly impossible to convince the European Commission to approve a deal although he refuses to give up.

WOULD LEVI BE FORCED TO QUIT?

Rumours began to spread that Warner head Edgar Bronfman had offered EMI’s chairman, Eric Nicoli, a job in any combined company but had frozen out Levy. According to LeviÂ

“There has been no discussion like that,� he said. When he first heard the rumours he thought they were so funny that he e-mailed Nicoli to tell him he’d heard that he, Nicoli, had got a job as Bronfman’s chauffeur.

“Would I like to be here for the next five years continuing to build what I have built out of something that was in pretty bad shape? I have a total passion for my job.

LEVI WOULD SUPPORT THE WARNER TAKEOVER GIVEN THE RIGHT PRICE.

Levy also said that if a Warner takeover of EMI created greater shareholder value than an EMI takeover of Warner, he would support it. “I am paid to create shareholder value, but the price has to be right. What Warner can’t do is try to buy us on the cheap.�

EMI ONCED FACED A GRIM FUTURE

EMI was once struggling to cope with illegal digital downloads, CD piracy and falling CD and singles sales. It was overstaffed, and budgets were, by Levy’s own admission, bloated. Between January 2000 and September 2001 the company lost 65% of its market value. After firing 1,800 staff and 400 artists, slashing £150m off the company’s annualised fixed costs and cracking down on illegal downloading while embracing new legal digital distribution systems — notably Itunes and Napster, ringtones for mobile phones and soundtracks for computer games — EMI’s revenues returned to growth last year for the first time since 2000.

EMI IS NOW IN THE CLEAR AND IS ABLE TO SURVIVE

Like the music industry in general, EMI is now, Levy said, out of the woods.

“We have taken the lesson that you cannot ignore the consumer. There is a business model. People want more music. But they want the music in different ways. We have to find ways to monetise it.�

Even if the deal with its new dance partner does fall through, Levy insists that EMI will still thrive. “A deal would create value but, if it doesn’t happen, we’ll create value in a different way to become the best music company in the world. There’s nothing structurally wrong. We have a 14% market share, so we are sitting at the top table.� (Timesonline)