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- <text id=90TT0758>
- <title>
- Mar. 26, 1990: Business Notes:Music
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Mar. 26, 1990 The Germans
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 61
- Business Notes
- MUSIC
- Top Dollar For Top 40
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> In the fast-consolidating worldwide music business, the
- hottest property around was Geffen Records, the last of the big
- independent labels. Everyone wanted to buy the stable of stars
- built by hitmaker David Geffen, 47. Last week, in a sweetheart
- deal that was the talk of Hollywood, Geffen sold his company
- to MCA in a stock transaction worth an estimated $550 million,
- but got to stay on as chairman of the label, which records
- Cher, Don Henley and Guns N' Roses. The agreement makes Geffen
- MCA's biggest stockholder, with 11% of the entertainment
- conglomerate.
- </p>
- <p> Geffen had considered a sale to Time Warner, the current
- distributor of Geffen Records, or Britain's Thorn EMI. Though
- MCA paid a premium for Geffen's Top 40 talent, the company
- gains needed clout in the booming record business--adding
- pop-rock power to its strong roster of black and country
- artists. At least in the music business no one is talking about
- "labels for less."
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-