Features
Universal Tips Toward Digital
The latest figures from media and communications giant Vivendi show that its
Universal’s Q3 results, which don’t include the takeover of EMI, show that sales of CDs fell by 14.2 percent to $1.29 billion while digital sales grew a further 8.6 percent to $1.16 billion.
Similar rates of decline and growth would soon see the company reaching the tipping point where digital overtakes physical.
The report posted alongside the figures said little about the EMI deal, apart from mentioning the process of selling the chunks of the company that the European regulators demanded is under way and that “these divestments are generating robust interest.”
It also says Universal’s on target to achieve the $160 million annual synergies it hopes to save by absorbing EMI.
Elsewhere, Universal head honcho Lucian Grainge has said he regrets having to sell Parlophone, which means losing Coldplay and Kylie Minogue , but he hopes to build Virgin on similar lines and further establish a London base for Capitol Records.