EMI Group and Warner Music are at it again.
Ten days after news broke that Warner had made an all-cash offer for EMI, EMI revealed the offer was for about $4.1 million -- and that the company had rejected it.
"At a regular Board meeting of EMI held earlier today, WMG's proposal was considered by the Board, which concluded that it is not in the best interests of EMI shareholders," it said in a statement Friday.
Still, the offer repped a 10% premium over EMI's stock price, about normal for a takeover bid.
Company pointed to "regulatory uncertainty" among the reasons for rejection.
EMI and WMG have jockeyed, in the press and in private, over who would foot the bill for what is sure to be a prolonged campaign with European regulators over a tie-up.
That has, in turn, prompted each to say a higher acquisition price would be justified.
No further offers are on the table, though it's possible WMG's latest overture was the first of several bids.
WMG has already landed the support of several important trade groups who might otherwise object to the purchase, suggesting it is serious about a potential buy.
But EMI may have incentive not to jump at any offers: After it rejected the bid, shares of the company climbed 5% in London markets.
The minuet between the two companies has now gone on for more than eight months. Over the summer, EMI and WMG each made several offers for the other's company, and watched as the target scoffed at the price.
Many of those offers were in the mid-to-high $4 billion-range, higher than the $4.1 billion offer revealed Friday.
But the pressure may be increasing on the companies to make a deal, which is regarded as a potential boon to the bottom lines of both firms.
EMI announced last month it was revising its forecast for recorded music downward by 15%, the second such warning this year.
WMG, meanwhile, has been in its own slump. When the offers first started, the company had a string of good earnings reports, and stock had climbed to an all-time high of about $30.
But in its most recent earnings, WMG reported a profit drop of nearly 75%. And the company stock has plummeted by more than 30% since a high last summer at the peak of the EMI negotiations.
Investors apparently weren't taken with WMG's latest gambit for EMI either: They sent the stock down another 3% in Friday trading, to close just above $19.
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