EU Court Balks at Sony/BMG Music Merger

Excerpt from our One Page Annotated Wall Street Journal Summary (receive it by email every morning by signing up here):
EU May Break Up Sony, BMG Units After Ruling Overturns Merger

• Summary: A European Court decision Thursday overturned the European Commission's clearance of the Sony-BMG Music merger in 2004 and ordered the commission to reassess the merger, opening the possibility that the merger could be broken apart. The Court of First Instance, the European Union's second-highest court, backed a challenge by the independent record label group Impala, claiming that the Commission failed to demonstrate the the combined entiry wouldn't have a monopoly position. "Universal Music holds the top Music spot in Europe, with Sony-BMG pulling ahead in the U.S. The rivals control about a quarter each of the $32 billion global music market. The other two majors are EMI and Warner Music, with about 30% of the global market between them."
• Comment on related stocks/ETFs: Incrementally positive for competitors Universal Music, owned by Vivendi Universal (V) and Warner Music Group (WMG) which is in a merger battle with EMI. More on the Warner-EMI battle here.