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- BUSINESS, Page 47Business NotesENTERTAINMENTPoly Wants A Lloyd Webber
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- Really Useful Holdings has certainly proved useful to
- tunesmith Andrew Lloyd Webber. Last week he sold a 30% interest
- in his company to European record giant PolyGram for more than
- $130 million. The London-based creator of Cats, The Phantom of the
- Opera, Starlight Express and other theatrical sensations has
- been criticized for shallowness, but no one questions Lloyd
- Webber's status as a cash machine. For PolyGram, the investment
- in Really Useful is the latest step in an aggressive and costly
- drive to buy up independent entertainment companies, following
- the acquisition of A&M and Island Records. While the deal will
- give PolyGram a role in musical theater, some skeptics suggest
- that PolyGram paid a steep price for Really Useful, since the
- return on the investment depends on the West End wunderkind's
- future output. As for Lloyd Webber, the PolyGram millions will
- allow him to expand into film and TV, while settling most of the
- debt his company incurred when it went private in 1990.
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