Universal Music, the world's largest music label, said today it has a definitive agreement to acquire online music subscription company EMusic.com for nearly $23 million cash, a deal it said would complement its other digital and Internet activities.
Universal, a unit of France's Vivendi Universal, said it plans to start a tender offer for all of EMusic's outstanding shares at 57 cents each.
EMusic's board has approved the deal, the companies said, and directors and officers who own 17 per cent of EMusic's stock have agreed to tender their shares.
The deal follows the formation last week of Duet, a joint partnership between Universal and Sony Music, along with Internet media company Yahoo.
Earlier last week, the other three major record labels - AOL Time Warner, BMG and EMI - announced a similar deal with Internet software firm RealNetworks.
Universal said completion of the EMusic tender offer is contingent on the tender of at least a majority of the company's diluted shares and on EMusic having cash and marketable securities worth $5 million on hand on April 30th.