Sony takes control of EMI Music Publishing with £1.7bn deal

Sony today struck a deal to pay £1.7bn to take control of British giant EMI Music Publishing.

Already one of EMI’s largest shareholders, Sony will buy a further 60 per cent stake currently owned by Mubadala Investment Company. This will take Sony’s interest in EMI to 90 per cent.

The deal is part of a pivot by new Sony boss Kenichiro Yoshida away from low-margin consumer electronics towards video games and content licensing.

Read more: Sony agrees thriller $750m deal with Michael Jackson’s estate

A 10 per cent shareholding in EMI will remain in the hands of the Michael Jackson Foundation.

Sony also slashed video games and network services profit forecasts. Annual operating profit is expected to be between 130 billion yen (£874m) and 170 billion yen in the year to March 2021, down from the 190 billion yen previously guided.

But the firm’s semiconductor business will see operating profits grow by up to 200 billion yen by 2021 – up from an earlier prediction of 100 billion yen.

Markets responded unfavourably to the mixed bag of news, with shares falling almost four per cent overnight.

Read more: Sony income goes up by seven times 2016 total