Apple May Buy Universal Music (Update:Hoax)

Posted by Simon Perry on 11 April 2003 at 11:14 am | Tagged as: Content

Update: Some clever wags hoaxed this.

Major, major, major news if it’s true. The LA Times and others are reporting that Apple computers have been in discussion with Universal for several months and plan to make a $6Bn offer to the Vivendi at their board meeting on 29 April. Universal accounts for about 1/4 of all CD sales and is the biggest player in 63 territories around the World. As The Register points out, there may be some complications as Apple reached an out-of-court agreement with Apple Corp. (the Beatles music label) not to enter in the music business in 1990.

I was aware that Apple was working on a super secret project, so much so that people that were hired to work on it weren’t even told what they were working on - I guess this may have been it.

If this deal comes off, it will give the music industry the shake-up it’s been needing, forcing the four others major labels to provide reasonably priced, easy to download music.

If it happens, I foresee mass panic in the music industry.