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# This May Not End Well… Top UMG Top Suitors Are A Streaming Service and A Private Equity Firm
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/this-may-not-end-well-top-umg-top-suitors-are-a-streaming-service-and-a-private-equity-firm/
- Published: 2019-02-28T08:50:59.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-28T08:50:59.000Z
- Description: If history is any guide, this may not end well… The two top suitors eyeing a $20 – $25 billion bid for a 50% stake in Universal Music Group are. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/02/this-may-not-end-well-top-umg-top-suitors-are-a-streaming-service-and-a-private-equity-firm.html]
- Author: Bruce Houghton
- Tags: Major Labels, Music Business, Streaming, KKR, music, musician, musicians, Tencent, UMG, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:00

[![image from cdn.pixabay.com](https://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e20240a4407319200c-200wi "image from cdn.pixabay.com")](https://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e20240a4407319200c-popup?ref=hypebot.com)If history is any guide, this may not end well… The two top suitors eyeing a $20 – $25 billion bid for a 50% stake in Universal Music Group are US investment firm KKR and China’s Tencent Music Entertainment Group.The news comes as UMG parent Vivendi interviews firms to handle the sale. "Sell-side banks are expected to be appointed in March, with a process likely to kick off in the second quarter, according to [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vivendi-universal-music-m-a-exclusive/exclusive-kkr-chinas-tencent-eyeing-bids-for-universal-music-sources-idUSKCN1QG2R0?ref=hypebot.com). "But informal discussions with potential bidders are underway as banks are trying to gauge appetite for the unit."The conflicts and concerns flowing from other music companies if UMG became half-owned by China's top music streamer are too numerous to count. It's made even worse by the fact that Tencent Music and Spotify also have a major stake in each other, thanks to a stock swap last year. And the last time that a private equity firm owned a major record label was when Guy Hands' Terra Firma Capital Partners, one of the largest private equity firms in Europe at the time, took over EMI. Hands was a former music executive and still that deal ended with EMI sold off in pieces at a fraction of its original value and Hands' firm in tatters,