No 1 concert promoter and ticketing company Live Nation Entertainment Inc is in the running to buy the recorded music assets of Warner Music Group Corp, the world's third largest music company, according to a person familiar with the talks. Warner Music effectively put itself up for sale in January when it hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc and AGM Partners to explore strategic options after it was approached about selling its assets.
Bids have come in valuing the whole company around $3 billion on an enterprise value basis, which includes both debt and equity. Bids for its Warner/Chappell song publishing unit have come in at around $1.5 billion to $2 billion.