Everyone Gets It But Guy

This Robert's been going on and on about Guy Hands and all those bankers trashing a jewel of a company, EMI, one of the last remaining stand alone music companies.

But Mr. Simon Duke has done such a splendid job of explaining just how bad this really is.

This Robert defers to him.

Guy Hands Pawns Abbey Road Studios

This Robert thought he's seen it all, but now our Guy Hands is selling off one of EMI's treasures to keep the bank off his back. Abbey Road Studios is on the blocks. "Come on Guy," this Robert's saying "Give it up! You're in way over your head."

Beatles Bailout EMI As Usual

What's a bailed out bank doing in the recorded music business? During the high flying days of banking, Citigroup loaned Guy Hands' company, Terra Firma, billions to purchase EMI. Neither company knew anything about music. As you can guess, things went south. The banking crisis and the music business collapse makes this loan look questionable.

Citigroup wants to get their money back. Selling EMI to Edgar Bronfman and his Warner Music Group is the easiest way to accomplish that. But that leaves Guy Hands and Terra Firma out in the cold. Seems Hands and his company wants to hang on and get better terms. So to continue to repay the huge debt, EMI had to meet certain monetary considerations set by Citigroup.

It seems EMI's recorded music division just squeaked by, and barely passed the bank's financial status test, so they can continue to operate for now. So as it has in the past, the Beatles catalog bails out EMI. This Robert wonders how long can this go on? So does the patient Mr. Edgar Bronfman.