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"We think that we're in a cyclical trough with respect to the way that music assets are exploited."
——Danny Stein, JDS Capital Management, Inc. President

DREAMWORKS MUSIC PUBLISHING SOLD TO PRIVATE INVESTMENT FIRM

N.Y.-based JDS Capital Management Acquires Company for Close to $50 Million
The winner in the $50 million DreamWorks Music Publishing derby is a dark horse.

Private investment firm JDS Capital Management, Inc. has acquired the unit of the DreamWorks entertainment group which holds the rights to music such artists John Denver and The Byrds and popular tracks including "The Thong Song" and "Take the A Train."

A company headed by ex-Warner Music U.K. head Rob Dickins and music publisher Cherry Lane had sent the bidding soaring past the $45 million mark when JDS Capitol entered the fray.

DreamWorks, started more than a decade ago by media and music entrepreneurs Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, disposed of the last of its music assets with the sale of the music publishing division.

DreamWorks was launched as an entertainment conglomerate spanning film, television and music, but its recent hits have largely been films. DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. was spun off from the movie studio last month, after striking success with the computer animated films Shrek 2 and Shark Tale.

DreamWorks last year sold its label, home to such performers as Nelly Furtado and Toby Keith, to Universal Music Group for an estimated $100 million.

N.Y.-based JDS, which has built a portfolio of digital music and music distribution companies, will fold 7,000 songs from DreamWorks' catalog into its Dimensional Music Publishing arm, according to JDS President Danny Stein.

JDS already owns digital music service eMusic and producer Richard Gottehrer's digital music distributor The Orchard, which supplies more than 200,000 tracks to top online music services and retail CD distributors.

"We think that we're in a cyclical trough with respect to the way that music assets are exploited," said Stein, who would not disclose the value of the deal.

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