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The label reportedly outbid the other three big sisters, WMG, BMG and UMG, whose offers ranged from the high teens to low 20s per album.

CAN SHE CAREY VIRGIN?

EMI’s Ken Berry Looks To Jump-Start Label And Take Attention Off Merger Chatter With $100 Million Mariah Carey Signing
A news analysis by I. B. Bad

EMI boss Ken Berry is taking well-deserved industry kudos for his headline-grabbing, five-album, $100 million signing of superstar Mariah Carey, who left her only previous label home, Sony's Columbia, to grab the British conglom's bucks and join the Virgin roster.

The label reportedly outbid the other three big sisters, WMG, BMG and UMG, whose offers ranged from the high teens to low 20s per album.

Insiders are praising Berry's move, despite the perceived overpayment, because the beleagured company, stung by merger talk with both WMG and BMG over the past year, needed the deal to boost its morale...not to mention a quick cash infusion when "All That Glitters" comes out Labor Day.

Could the move even impact a posssible merger or sale? And, if so, will Mariah be able to walk if such a merger or sale takes place? Carey barrister Don Passman was known to have previously negotiated such a clause for client Janet Jackson at Virgin with EMI's Berry.

Handicappers had considered Virgin a longshot in the bidding war, given the Mariah/Janet competition (both will have albums out at the same time). That said, Mariah went for the biggest offer in choosing Virgin/EMI, which was pretty much the largest on the table.

Of course, numbers-crunchers have now jumped into the fray, adding EMI's reported $10 million, non-recoupable peel to Sony for the soundtrack to the estimated $15 million in marketing costs and figuring Carey needs to sell 7-9 million of "All That Glitters" for the company to break even on its initial investment. That's a lotta "Glitter," folks. The singer's been on a bit of a sales decline, too, going from a worldwide high of 24 million for ‘95's "Daydream," while her latest, "Rainbow," sold 6.8 million globally.

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