Blackstone Acquires Majority Interest in The Columbia House Company.Business Editors The Columbia House Company, the world's largest direct marketer of music, videos and DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. home entertainment products, closed the previously announced acquisition by Blackstone Capital Partners III LP, an affiliate of The Blackstone Group, the New York-based private investment bank, of a majority interest in the Company from AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Music Group Warner Music Group (WMG) is one of the four major record labels. Warner Music Group also has a publishing arm, Warner/Chappell Music, which dates back to 1929, when Jack Warner, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. and Sony Corporation's Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment is a major global record label controlled by the Sony Corporation. In 1988, Sony Corporation acquired CBS Records, Inc. for $2 billion. CBS Inc., now CBS Corporation, retained the rights to the CBS name, and Sony renamed the label Inc. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Both Sony and Warner Music Group will retain minority interests in Columbia House and will remain important suppliers of music and video content to The Columbia House Company. Financing for the transaction, was arranged by UBS UBS Union Bank of Switzerland UBS United Bible Societies UBS United Blood Services UBS United Buying Service UBS Used Bookstore UBS University Business Services UBS Universal Building Society (UK) UBS Ulaanbaatar Broadcasting System Warburg LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control and Banc of America Securities LLC. Blackstone was advised by UBS Warburg and Pathway Ventures. About The Columbia House Company The Columbia House Company is the world's largest direct marketer of music, videos and DVD home entertainment products. With more than 16 million offline and online club members in the United States, Canada and Mexico, the company provides direct-to-consumer marketing of more than 12,000 music titles and 7,000 video and DVD titles through its entertainment clubs. The company's Web site, www.columbiahouse.com is one of the premier e-commerce brands and consistently ranks among the Web's top 25 shopping destinations. Since its inception in 1955, The Columbia House Company has a proven record of excellence in database marketing, market segmentation, credit screening, and niche market merchandising. About The Blackstone Group The Blackstone Group, a private investment bank with offices in New York and London, was founded in 1985. The firm has raised a total of approximately $23 billion for alternative asset investing since its formation, $14 billion of which has been for private equity investing. The Blackstone Group's six core businesses are Mergers and Acquisitions Advisory, Restructuring and Reorganization Advisory, Private Equity Investing, Private Real Estate Investing Real estate investing involves the purchase of real estate for profit. Profits are accumulated slowly by renting out properties in a cashflow method, or are generally improved and resold for a capital gain. , Private Mezzanine Investing, and Liquid Alternative Asset Management. www.blackstone.com |
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