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# If Major Labels Are Dinosaurs, Why Do Liberty Media and Softbank Want To Buy One?
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/if-major-labels-are-dinosaurs-why-do-liberty-media-and-softbank-want-to-buy-one/
- Published: 2015-03-11T13:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2015-03-11T13:00:00.000Z
- Description: Looking for signs that the recorded music business has a future? Aggressive Liberty Media chief John Malone and a Japanese telecom giant each wanted to buy The Universal Music Group.
- Author: Bruce Houghton
- Tags: Major Labels, Music Business, American Airlines, Billboard Magazine, Citigroup, Grammy Award, Grammy Award for Best New Artist, Rob Wells, Sam Smith, Spotify, Universal Music Group, YouTube, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:28

[![liberty media](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b7c75f96c3970b-150wi "liberty media")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b7c75f96c3970b-popup?ref=hypebot.com)Looking for signs that the **recorded music business has a future?** Aggressive **Liberty Media** chief John Malone and a Japanese telecom giant each wanted to **buy The Universal Music Group**.

Liberty Media head John Malone reportedly made an overture to Vincent Bolloré, the chairman and biggest shareholder of Vivendi, expressing an interest in acquiring Universal Music Group. According to the New York Post, Bolloré, who owns an 8% stake in Vivendi, showed little interest in the deal and has in the past, called for Vivendi to expand its media holdings.

[![UMG](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201bb08035833970d-200wi "UMG")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201bb08035833970d-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

Vivendi also rejected an $8.5 billion all-cash for Universal from Japanese telecom giant Softbank in 2013, which, at the time, represented about a 25% premium on Universal's estimated value, so any offer from Liberty would likely require a greater commitment.

“They would have to pay an astronomical number,” one unnamed source told the Post.

Universal artists include Taylor Swift, Sam Smith and U2, but posted a decline in revenue of almost 7% in 2014, driven by the headwinds against physical sales. – *via [CelebrityAccess](http://www.celebrityaccess.com/?ref=hypebot.com)*

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