Warner Music bought by Russian Billionaire

[Scarpia]

The Warner Music Group agreed on Friday to sell itself to the investment vehicle of the Russian-born billionaire Len Blavatnik for about $3.3 billion, including the assumption of debt, ending a sales process that lasted months for the music record company.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/warner-music-to-sell-itself-to-access-for-3-3-billion/?hp

EMI is next.

[MDL]

Maybe he'll buy HMV and sort out its fanancial woes.

[Lethevich]

Maybe this guy will actually have some taste and begin to record classical with the label once again.

[Scarpia]

Maybe this guy will actually have some taste and begin to record classical with the label once again.

There are Russians with taste, and there are Russian Billionaires, but I'm not sure if there is any intersection of those two sets.   

The Billionaire involved emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1978, and accumulated all of his wealth while living in the US and England, so he doesn't seem to be particularly Russian to me.

[Lethevich]

The Billionaire involved emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1978, and accumulated all of his wealth while living in the US and England, so he doesn't seem to be particularly Russian to me.

Indeed - he seems to have earned his fortune in a rather more difficult and respectable manner than some of his compatriots.

[Antoine Marchand]

There are Russians with taste, and there are Russian Billionaires, but I'm not sure if there is any intersection of those two sets.   

The Billionaire involved emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1978, and accumulated all of his wealth while living in the US and England, so he doesn't seem to be particularly Russian to me.

Indeed - he seems to have earned his fortune in a rather more difficult and respectable manner than some of his compatriots.

I love this kind of generalizations! 

[Lethevich]

I love this kind of generalizations! 

Me too, when they accurately represent a general trend. I'd be much happier to do business with a self-made person than the pseudo mafia who made their fortunes with Yeltsin and co.

[MDL]

Me too, when they accurately represent a general trend. I'd be much happier to do business with a self-made person than the pseudo mafia who made their fortunes with Yeltsin and co.

Hear, hear. The gobsmacking scandals of some Russian oligarchs and their ransacking of their country would defy belief were they not true.

[Scarpia]

Hear, hear. The gobsmacking scandals of some Russian oligarchs and their ransacking of their country would defy belief were they not true.

And then they get their hands on the Harnoncourt catalog.  Say it isn't so!