EMI recommended investors accept a Pounds 2.4 billion ($4.73 billion) takeover by private equity group Terra Firma, Reuters and others reported Mon. Terra Firma is said to be planning to keep the music company intact. U.K.-based EMI and Warner have been talking merger on & off for 7 years but couldn’t close a deal, Reuters said. In preliminary results for the quarter ended March 31, EMI Group revenue fell 16% to Pounds 1.75 billion, pretax profits more than 60% to Pounds 62.7 million. But EMI Group digital revenue rose 46.5% to Pounds 164.2 million, or 9.4% of revenue. CEO Eric Nicoli blamed the losses on “worsening market conditions which affected the entire recorded music industry, with revenue declines in every major music market across the world.” The restructuring will “realign our investment focus and direct our resources to areas where we will make higher and more sustainable returns,” he said. Digital sales are the bright spot for EMI, making it “confident about our long-term future,” Nicoli said: “Although fewer CDs are being purchased, people are consuming more music in more ways than ever before,” and EMI is “well-equipped for the digital age.”

EMI agreed to a Pounds 2.4 billion ($4.73 billion) takeover by private equity group Terra Firma, Reuters and others reported Mon. Terra Firma is said to be planning to keep the music company intact. U.K.-based EMI and Warner have been talking merger on & off for 7 years but couldn’t close a deal, Reuters said. In preliminary results for the quarter ended March 31, EMI reported music sales dropped 15%, pretax profits more than 60%.

The International Trade Administration has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping duty administrative and new shipper reviews:

The International Trade Administration has issued its final results of the antidumping duty administrative review of certain hot-rolled carbon steel flat products from Thailand for the period of November 1, 2004 through October 31, 2005.

CBP has issued an ABI administrative message announcing that on May 17, 2007, at approximately 3:15 EDT, the remaining unsent preliminary Periodic Monthly Statements (PMSs) for May 2007 were identified and properly routed. (On May 16th CBP announced that due to a systems problem, some preliminary PMSs were not issued on the 15th.)

The International Trade Administration has issued its final results of the antidumping duty administrative and new shipper reviews of hand trucks and certain parts thereof from China for the period of December 1, 2004 through November 30, 2005.

Its 2nd week available, the PS2 version of Activision’s Spider-Man 3 was again the #1-renting videogame in the U.S., according to Rentrak preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended May 13. The Xbox 360 version moved up one to #2; the PS3 version, up 5 to #8. The only new release in the top 10 was Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for 360 from Electronic Arts (EA) at #5. EA had one other game in the top 10: Medal of Honor: Vanguard for PS2 at #7, down one in its 7th week. Ubisoft also had 2 games in the top 10: Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 for 360 at #4 (up from #5 in its 10th week) and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas at #10 (down one in its 25th week). SCEA, Nintendo and Microsoft each had one game in the top 10: God of War II for PS2 at #3 (down from #2 in its 9th week), Super Paper Mario for Wii at #6 (down 2 in its 5th week) and Crackdown for 360 at #9 (down 2 in its 12th week).

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued two ABI administrative messages regarding the May 2007 preliminary Periodic Monthly Statement (PMS).

The International Trade Administration has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping duty administrative reviews:

The Commerce Department's Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) has posted to its Web site the monthly reports containing official March 2007 trade data from the Department of Census for imports and exports of textiles and apparel: