EMI has suffered a decline in its market share of US album sales in the second quarter, which could undermine its position in a £2.5bn two-way takeover battle with Warner Music.
EMI, which manages artists including Coldplay and Janet Jackson, has seen its album sales decline 8 per cent year-on-year, and the company has lost 0.4 percentage points to 10 per cent in US market share, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan.
By contrast, Warner Music's album sales in the US increased 11 per cent year-on-year, and the company gained 3 percentage points in US market share.Industry observers consider total album market share, which measures sales of current and catalogue titles, to be the most comprehensive measure of a company's sales performance.
Warner is majority owned by billionaire Edgar Bronfman Jr and a group of private equity investors. The market data comes at a delicate stage in a two-way takeover battle between EMI and Warner.
Earlier this month, the US group launched an unexpected 320p a share offer for Warner, which valued the UK company at about £2.5bn. EMI rejected that offer which it deemed "wholly unacceptable".
However, EMI kicked-off the transatlantic bid battle in May when it offered $28.50 a share, or $4.2bn (£2.27bn), which Warner rejected.
A tie-up between the world's third and fourth music groups has long been regarded as inevitable across the music industry. The two companies have circled each other for years, with previous agreements nearly reached in 2000, 2001 and 2003, but thwarted either because of regulatory opposition or because other investors swooped in.
US music industry revenues generally decelerated during the second quarter of the year, with album sales down by 5 per cent, according to SoundScan. However, Warner experienced an 18 per cent increase in album sales during the same period, with performance driven by hit releases from James Blunt, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sean Paul.
Nielsen SoundScan tracks sales throughout the US and Canada.
Source: http://msnbc.msn.com
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