PARIS – It was annouced today that Vivendi Universali acquired San Diego-based MP3.com, Inc. for $372 million ($5 per share) in so called friendly, cash and stock transaction.
MP3.com represents a major acquisition and is expected to strongly reinforce Vivendi Universal’s dominance in the strategic areas of online music, subscriptions, branding, technology and all its content.
The transaction has been structured as a reorganization that will be tax free to MP3.com shareholders to the extent they receive Vivendi Universal shares.
Vivendi Universal will not issue new common shares in this transaction, but will use treasury shares for the share portion of the aggregate transaction consideration.
The Board of Directors of MP3.com has unanimously approved the transaction. Holders of more than 50% of MP3.com’s outstanding shares have agreed to vote in favor of the transaction.
MP3.com is promissing to maintain its role as the premier distributor of music on the Internet.
“The company will continue to feature content from all record labels and from independent artists,” says the company press release. “There are currently over 150,000 artists from more than 180 countries that make their music available to music fans through MP3.com.”
