Guy Hands, the private equity owner of EMI, plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs at the ailing British music company, in a plan to rebuild the group which has sparked fury from some of its biggest acts. Hands, previously best known for investment in waste management and pubs, on Tuesday unveiled his plan to make the home to The Beatles more artist-driven after it was hit by online piracy, falling CD sales and a poor release schedule.
In the list of Britain's biggest-selling albums in 2007, EMI's highest entry was Lily Allen's Alright, Still at 26. The worldwide cuts will come at EMI's troubled recorded music division, which has some 4,500 staff of a group total of around 5,500. The shakeup, in which between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs will go, is designed to boost its roster of talent and increase Internet sales while reducing costs by 200 million pounds ($393 million) a year.
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