Yes, even more speculation regarding Bertelsmann wanting to sell their half of SonyBMG. There have been rumours that the German conglom are looking to get out of the recorded music business ever since they merged their BMG record company with Sony Music back in 2004. So far those rumours have proven unfounded, but a new report in the New York Times claims that the board there are stepping up discussions regarding selling their SonyBMG stake. The Bertelsmann top guard are remaining tight lipped, but media commentators have latched on to the fact that the company's CEO Hartmut Ostrowski has been careful to not deny that a sale is on the agenda, and the fact that he has, of late, been talking about the future of Bertelsmann as being a leading "international media specialist", a phrase that many infer to mean "not recorded music". If Bertelsmann were to sell it remains to be seen if Sony would and could buy out its partner – or whether the German firm would sell to one of the private equity firms reportedly interested in buying 50% of the record company.
Elsewhere in SonyBMG news, Maarten Steinkamp has confirmed to Billboard rumours that he has stepped down as President Of Continental Europe. The major are yet to formally comment on Steinkamp’s departure, though a restructure of the company’s mainland European operations is expected now that he is gone.