SoftBank, the Japanese telecoms group, proposed an $8.5bn bid for Universal Music about three months ago but was turned down by the owner of the world’s largest music group, according to several people familiar with the proposal.
Vivendi, Universal’s French owner, has been under pressure to restructure its portfolio of telecoms and media assets, but told SoftBank that it was not interested because it saw the music company as central to its future strategy, these people said. Vivendi and SoftBank declined to comment.
An $8.5bn offer, based on the idea that music is heavily consumed on devices that use SoftBank’s mobile networks, would value Universal at $2bn to $3bn above most analyst estimates.