WSJ: L.A. Reid To Resign! Options

[Lisa]

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 13-01-04 AT 02:16 PM (EST)]This just crossed my screen from The Wall Street Journal. It's a preliminary report. I will post more info when it's available:


By Ethan Smith
Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

LOS ANGELES (Dow Jones)--Arista Records President and Chief Executive Antonio "LA" Reid is expected to step down Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the situation.

(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)

Arista, a unit of Bertelsmann AG's BMG, posted an operating loss for the first half of 2003, and is said to have lost money for two years running. Reid could not be reached for comment.

Reid's departure comes as Arista has been enjoying a big hit record with OutKast's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below," which has yielded two big hit singles. BMG management, while happy with Reid's skills as a record man, is said to want an executive in the job "with more financial restraint and accountability," according to a person close to the situation.

No replacement will be immediately named. For now, Arista executives will report to BMG Chief Operating Officer Michael Smellie.

-By Ethan Smith, The Wall Street Journal

[BOSTONSUPERMODEL]

let me get my resume together..shoot i'll have a new whitney cd out every 6 months lol

[Tiger]

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 13-01-04 AT 02:29 PM (EST)]Didn't we make a bet about this?? I predicted this will happen, I knew it!! I knew that no one was falling for the propaganda he was doing for himself, he just messed up too many things!!!

This is great for Whitney,, all she needs to do is take the trash out and we are good to go.

THERE IS GOD!! THANK YOU GOD!! THANK YOU!!!

[BOSTONSUPERMODEL]

you're welcomed anytime lol just kidding whitney and sister perri must have been doing some heavy praying

[JustCJ]

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 13-01-04 AT 02:45 PM (EST)]I don't know if this is good for Whitney or not... it means that she really doesn't have anybody in her corner at Arista now and if they feel that she is no longer a flagship artist her contract could be in real jeopardy... don't get happy yet, it not like Clive is coming back.

[Jenn]

I saw this on another board...

From HITS:

L.A. REID OUT AT ARISTA: Big shake-up at Arista Records, with President/CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid out and Exec VP/GM Larry Mestel now running the day-to-day at the label. Conventional wisdom is that the operations will be merged into BMG's other two labels RCA/J and Jive. The question now is, will the merger be finalized before or after the deal with Sony is complete, pending approval of trade regulators? Reid had tremendous success after succeeding Clive Davis at the label, breaking acts and launching the careers of such groups as OutKast, Pink, Usher, Avril Lavigne, Toni Braxton and TLC, among many others. Expect to see him scooped up quickly by Edgar Bronfman at the new WMG or Doug Morris at UMG, who know the value of executive talent. (1/13p)

I don't know if this is good or bad. If the above is true, maybe she'll be back under Clive. I think that would be a good thing.

[Tiger]

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 13-01-04 AT 03:00 PM (EST)]No more Arista would even be better. Whether it is RCA or J I am sure that she will be fine. The publicity will be great though if she is back with J and scores a hit, Clive has an influence on Whitney that I don't think anyone else has.

[JustCJ]

>I saw this on another board...
>
>From HITS:
>
>L.A. REID OUT AT ARISTA: Big shake-up at Arista Records,
>with President/CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid out and Exec VP/GM
>Larry Mestel now running the day-to-day at the label.
>Conventional wisdom is that the operations will be merged
>into BMG's other two labels RCA/J and Jive. The question now
>is, will the merger be finalized before or after the deal
>with Sony is complete, pending approval of trade regulators?
>Reid had tremendous success after succeeding Clive Davis at
>the label, breaking acts and launching the careers of such
>groups as OutKast, Pink, Usher, Avril Lavigne, Toni Braxton
>and TLC, among many others.

ummm.. he launched none of them except MAYBE Avril who was probably in development before his appointment...


Expect to see him scooped up
>quickly by Edgar Bronfman at the new WMG or Doug Morris at
>UMG, who know the value of executive talent. (1/13p)


who and who??


>I don't know if this is good or bad. If the above is true,
>maybe she'll be back under Clive. I think that would be a
>good thing.

well, shut my mouth... that would be better than good... that would be GrrrRREEAT!

[BOSTONSUPERMODEL]

in my whitney voice "clive davis it really does seem just like yesterday" lol dam LA didn't even have time to get his office furniture arranged the way he wanted it..

[LilStevieW]

Resigning, my azz. :-N That's not true. And of course, he got HITS! magazine up there trying to make it sound good. x(

Several of us saw this coming. We were talking about this months ago on here. Between the two of their publicists, this is going to be the biggest story of the quarter. And as we can see with HITS, LA's people are already doing damage control on the leak, which ALSO came from the TOP, too. Shady.

In the next 6 months this is going to happen at every major. Everybody will be going indie, eventually - starting with WMG/Bronfman. LA was the obvious casualty at BMG when u look at the way things were going. Arista could easily be added to the roster of another company with the way it's been going for the past two years. Consolidation is a must. Universal will be consolidating ALL of their labels into one, too. The lay offs are coming...

[Jenn]

Actually, if the Hits piece is true, Whit WILL be back under Clive because he runs both J and RCA. Hmmmmm... looking good, looking good.

[Tiger]

Amen to Stevie!! I was waiting for you to reply.

Eversince I heard about the possible WB / BMG merger last summer which failed and then the Sony / BMG merger talks that followed very shortly I knew that Arista is going to be history. I think this was an agreement in both negotiation attemps to downscale from 20 something labels into 5 labels or so.

[Jenn]

>Resigning, my azz. :-N That's not true. And of course, he
>got HITS! magazine up there trying to make it sound good. x(

SMH @ L.A.

>Several of us saw this coming. We were talking about this
>months ago on here. Between the two of their publicists,
>this is going to be the biggest story of the quarter. And
>as we can see with HITS, LA's people are already doing
>damage control on the leak, which ALSO came from the TOP,
>too. Shady.
>
>In the next 6 months this is going to happen at every major.
> Everybody will be going indie, eventually - starting with
>WMG/Bronfman. LA was the obvious casualty at BMG when u
>look at the way things were going. Arista could easily be
>added to the roster of another company with the way it's
>been going for the past two years. Consolidation is a must.
> Universal will be consolidating ALL of their labels into
>one, too. The lay offs are coming...

So sad. So many people will lose their jobs. I read on TMH how everyone at Dreamworks lost their jobs on Friday.

[Lisa]

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 13-01-04 AT 03:56 PM (EST)]They just let him save face a little by saying he stepped down. Here's official word:


Antonio "LA" Reid steps down as head of Arista

LOS ANGELES, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Antonio "L.A." Reid has stepped down effective immediately as president and chief executive officer of Arista Records, the company's parent company, Bertelsmann AG's BMG, said on Tuesday.

The company said that until further notice, executive management at Arista will report to Michael Smellie, chief operating officer of BMG.

Arista has had two years of significant losses.

The executive shake-up comes as Germany's Bertelsmann and Sony Corp. (6758.T) have notified European Union competition authorities of their plans to merge their music businesses.

The 50-50 joint venture, first announced in November, would create the world's second-largest record label, combining the recorded music units of Bertelsmann's BMG and Sony Music, but excluding music publishing and CD production.

The deal, about which the Commission was notified on Friday, needs competition clearance in the United States and Europe. The EU has set a deadline of February 12 to assess the merger.

The proposed combined company would rival market leader Vivendi Universal's (V.N) (EAUG.PA) Universal Music's 25.9 percent share of global music sales, with a share of 25.2 percent based on 2002 sales.

[T]

LA was only really successful with the artists that were on LaFace. He did not do anything that he could not have done if LaFace was still in tact. So I understand him "resigning." Bring on Mr. Davis.