EMI offers peek under its skirts

EMI is now apparently seriously looking for someone to take away its pain - it might only be at a "preliminary" stage, but people with money are being given the chance to rifle through the company's books with a view to a takeover. Reuters reckons the oft-mooted Warners merger is now a total-write off (too many regulatory worries, too little money) but EMI could bend over for a private equity buy-out.

What that would mean for the company's staggering steps towards towards selling un-DRMed downloads (staggering in both senses) is anyone's guess. It depends, of course, on the buyer.