Sony's 'Top Secret' Plans To Sell Its Music Publishing Arm

It seems not just catty film-studio executives' emails were caught up in the massive information dump orchestrated against Sony Entertainment by hacking group the Guardians Of Peace, as new reports point to high-level correspondence detailing a plan to sell the company's music publishing business.

As originally reported by Bloomberg, emails from November between Sony Entertainment chief executive Michael Lynton and Sony Corp of America president Nicole Seligman and chief financial officer Steve Kober mention a "top secret" plan for the future of the music side of Sony's operation after the company identified few viable growth opportunities in the market. Though few details are available, Kober explicitly mentions "the sale of Sony/ATV".

"We are very surprised that the attached listing includes the comment about the sale of Sony/ATV," Kober reportedly wrote. "As you know quite well, this is a top-secret project that is being handled by me working directly with Michael and Nicole."

Sony/ATV was formed out of a joint venture between Sony and Michael Jackson (then-owner of ATV), and administers EMI Music Publishing — another partially Sony-owned company now run by a mix of investors including "Jackson's estate, Blackstone Group's GSO Capital Partners LP, Geffen and Mubadala Development Co, owned by the Abu Dhabi government". The Sony/ATV and EMI monolith enjoys a global market share of about 30%, boasting a collective 2 million or so songs in their catalogues by artists such as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Manic Street Preachers, Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen and Eminem, among countless others.

Tokyo-based Sony CFO Kenichiro Yoshida had expressed his concern about Sony Music Publishing's prospects in an earlier email to Lynton and Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai, on 3 October, noting the challenge faced in the wake of the rise of digital music consumption.

"I'd like to hear your thoughts on the Music Publishing business, which has a rather complex capital and governance structure and is impacted by the market shift to streaming," Yoshida wrote.

However, it has not been ascertained from the contents of the leaked emails whether EMI is involved in the sale plans. The businesses brings in about half-a-billion US dollars in revenue every year, with profits in the vicinity of $US100 million.