Time now for finance news. First up, Universal Music Group's parent company Vivendi Universal have admitted that their overall revenues for the third quarter of this year were down 20%, but stressed this was due primarily to the sale of much of the group's entertainment companies to NBC. However on the upside the one big entertainment company they do still own - ie their record company - showed a revenue increase of 4% over the quarter.
Meanwhile, over at BMG parent company Bertelsmann a few smiling faces in the top guard following the news that the group's profits for the first nine months of this year were four times as big as the profits made in the first nine months of last year - up from 123 million Euro to 521 million Euro. Although they didn't break down where that profits boost came from, consensus is that BMG have had a good year and are likely to have made a healthy contribution to their parent company's success.