EMI Group Limited, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, was a British multinational music recording and publishing company, and electronics device and systems manufacturing company, headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
At the time of its break-up in 2012 it was the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and was one of the big four record companies (now the “big three”). Its record labels included EMI Records, Parlophone and Capitol Records. EMI Group also had a major publishing arm, EMI Music Publishing – also based in London with offices globally.
The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but faced financial troubles and $4 billion in debt, leading to its acquisition by Citigroup in February 2011.[5][6] Citigroup’s ownership was temporary, as it announced in November 2011 that it would sell its music arm to Vivendi’s Universal Music Group for $1.9 billion, and EMI’s publishing business to a Sony/ATV consortium for around $2.2 billion. Other members of the Sony consortium include The Estate of Michael Jackson, Blackstone and Abu Dhabi-owned investment fund Mubadala.[7] Both before and after the sale announcement, Universal Music Group pledged to sell off EMI assets to the value of half a billion euros