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Herb Alpert And Partner Get $200 Million From Vivendi Universal Deal
03/13/2003 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Darryl Morden
(3/13/03, 4 p.m. ET) -- Trumpet master and A&M Records co-founder Herb Alpert has collected part of a $200 million settlement in cash and stocks from the media corporation, Vivendi Universal.
Alpert and his partner Jerry Moss were paid more than eight percent in stock and more than $100 million cash as part of an agreement that dates back to when they sold their music publishing company, Rondor, in the year 2000 for $350 million in stock to the Seagram company, which was then acquired by Vivendi.
The terms of the deal stated that if stock fell below the price of $37.50 for 10 days in a row, Alpert and Moss would get an additional payment. Vivendi's stock has been plunging since last year and has been below that level for the past nine months, at just above $12 a share on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday (March 10th). Alpert and Moss decided to sell their shares in April and May of last year, and according to the agreement, would receive the extra payment this month, with the figure based on the original stock price going back to when they sold the publishing company three years ago.
The Rondor Music catalog included more than 60,000 songs, including the Beach Boys' "California Girls," Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," Aretha Franklin's "Respect," and Sam & Dave's "Soul Man."
Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss were the "A" and the "M" in A&M Records which they founded in 1962 in Los Angeles. They sold the label to Polygram Records in 1989, but it was bought again in 1999 by the Universal Music Group, owned by Seagram. Alpert and Moss filed a lawsuit that said A&M was "absorbed" into Universal Music when it was supposed to remain a functioning label for 20 years after their original sale.
A&M's roster included Sting, Sheryl Crow, and Bryan Adams. Alpert himself was a recording artist and led the Tijuana Brass for hits like "The Lonely Bull" and "Tijuana Taxi," along with his Number One solo record "This Guy's In Love With You," which also featured him on vocals. Alpert said the label was always devoted to developing singers and musicians for long-term careers, and that all ended when A&M was acquired into a giant music business machine:
"My partner, Jerry Moss, and I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in that company and every decision we made was something we--there were a lot of considerations made for each decision," Alpert said. "We tried to build up a roster of artists that we would have bought ourselves. So when the big corporation took it over, it was a little bit sad the way they started treating it because it was more of a bottom-line operation and there's a bit of a slash-and-burn concept going on that was sad to see, because we were like a little boutique that operated--we made decisions not based on money alone. We always had the artist in mind."
-- Darryl Morden, Los Angeles
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