Unfolding of a musical mystery

Vilasini Bharadwaj

BANGALORE: A Bollywood-type love triangle saga is being enacted in an unlikeliest of places, Silicon Valley. The protagonists in this still unfolding story are Vivendi, Microsoft and Apple.

It all began on April 11, when the Los Angeles Times reported that Apple is in talks to buy Universal Music from the shaky French giant Vivendi International for between US$5 billion and US$6 billion. The LA Times report spawned tens of quick reports, reactions and analyses in the international press. Agencies went on the rampage, with reports nearly confirming Apple’e buyout of Universal Music.

Two days later, on April 14, Microsoft entered the jumped into fray with its statement to the Wall Street Journal that it was courted by Vivendi to buy its music unit, Universal Music. Like a true reel life triangle love story of two lovelorn seekers going for the same goal- Apple and Microsoft were pitching for Universal Music, or so we thought. Earlier, in Feb 2003 a report did talk about a certain deal between Microsoft and Vivendi, but only to be dismissed as a hoax report as both companies denied it.

Apple took two days to think it over before it came with another statement staunchly denying its offer to buy the music company. On April 16, one of the agency reports said, 'Apple Computer Inc. said it never made any offer to invest in or buy a music company.'

The company said in a statement that press reports attributed to Vivendi board member Claude Bebear are untrue. Earlier, a Vivendi spokesman also said Bebear denies having given a view of any talks that may be underway. This statement came as a reaction to an article on Bloomberg news service that quoted Bebear in an interview saying that U.S. computer maker Apple would 'probably make an offer for the music business for about $6 billion.'

On April 24 Steve Jobs spoke to press again and issued another safe statement that has left us only in more suspense. As an anti-climax, Apple CEO Steve Jobs even told CBS Marketwatch.com that 'Apple has never made any offer to invest in or acquire a major music company.' He went on to say that, beyond those comments, 'we will abide by Apple's policy of not commenting on rumors.'

Even after two weeks of rumors and ambiguous neither-deny-nor-confirm stands from sources, the truth is still covered under a lot of word play from Apple’s Steve Jobs.

Amid all the rumor mongering and quick dissemination of seemingly authentic reports across the media, Cupertino, California based Apple is gearing up to launch an online music service, in an event in San Francisco on Monday, April 28, noting that it would be 'music to your ears.'