BMG, UMG Re-Enter Fray

JOINT BID? BMG Rights Management and Universal Music Group are teaming up to bid on either Warner Music Group or EMI or both, according to U.K.’s Daily Telegraph. With private equity groups headed by Len Blavatnik and the Gores reportedly the two finalists for WMG, BMG has not ruled out re-entering the bidding with UMG. The two music companies have drawn up a detailed plan, which sources insist would carve up EMI or Warner’s global catalogs in a way that would “avoid regulatory issues.” BMG would nab publishing arms and catalogs, while Universal is interested in the recorded music divisions. (5/3a)