. for one of the group s former pre eminent labels see universal records defunct record label . for other uses see universal records disambiguation . universal music group inc. umg s headquarters in santa monica california type subsidiary industry music & entertainment founded september 1934 ; 82 years ago 1934 09 as decca records usa 1989 1989 as mca music entertainment group 1996 1996 first umg incarnation from mca records may 1998 1998 05 second umg incarnation from polygram headquarters santa monica california united states key people lucian grainge chairman & ceo boyd muir cfo revenue 1.552 billion 2012 number of employees 6 967 2010 parent vivendi divisions list of universal music group labels website universalmusic.com universal music group inc. also known as umg recordings inc. and abbreviated as umg is an american french based worldwide music corporation that currently operates as a subsidiary of the paris based french media conglomerate vivendi . umg s global corporate headquarters are located in santa monica california . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 acquisition by vivendi 1.3 2010s and emi purchase 1.4 2012 present emi integration and divisions reorganization 2 labels 3 multimedia content delivery 4 locations 4.1 los angeles metropolitan area 4.1.1 santa monica 4.1.2 hollywood 4.1.3 universal city 4.2 new york city 4.3 london 4.4 berlin 4.5 other locations 5 controversy 5.1 cd price fixing 5.2 payola 5.3 youtube 5.4 myspace 5.5 megaupload 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit for history prior to 1996 see mca records early history edit universal music was once the music company attached to film studio universal pictures . its origins go back to the formation of the american branch of decca records in september 1934 . 1 2 the decca record co. ltd. of england spun american decca off in 1939 . 3 mca inc. merged with american decca in 1962 . the present organization was formed when its parent company seagram purchased polygram in may 1998 and merged it with universal music group in early 1999 . however the name had first appeared in 1996 when mca music entertainment group was renamed universal music group . the polygram acquisition included deutsche grammophon which traces its ancestry to berliner gramophone making deutsche grammophon umg s oldest unit . umg s canadian unit traces its ancestry to a berliner gramophone breakaway firm the compo company . acquisition by vivendi edit with the 2004 acquisition of universal studios by general electric and merging with ge s nbc universal music group was cast under separate management from the eponymous film studio . this is the second time a music company has done so the first being time warner and warner music group completely separating from each other . in february 2006 the label became 100 % owned by french media conglomerate vivendi when vivendi purchased the last 20 % from matsushita the group s sole owner from 1990 to 1995 and co owner from 1995 to 2006 . on june 25 2007 vivendi completed its 1.63 billion 2.4 billion purchase of bmg music publishing after receiving european union regulatory approval having announced the acquisition on september 6 2006 . 4 5 2010s and emi purchase edit doug morris stepped down from his position as ceo on january 1 2011 . former chairman ceo of universal music international lucian grainge was promoted to ceo of the company . grainge later replaced him as chairman on march 9 2011 . 6 morris became the next chairman of sony music entertainment on july 1 2011 . 7 with grainge s appointment as ceo at umg max hole was promoted to coo of umgi effective july 1 2010 . 8 starting in 2011 umg s interscope geffen a & m records will be signing contestants from american idol idol series . on january 2011 umg announced it was donating 200 000 master recordings from the 1920s to 1940s to the library of congress for preservation . 9 in march 2011 barry weiss became chairman & ceo of the island def jam music group & universal republic records . 10 both companies are in the process of restructuring under weiss . 11 in december 2011 david foster was named chairman of verve music group . on november 12 2011 it was announced that emi would sell its recorded music operations to universal music group for 1.2 billion 1.9 billion and its music publishing operations to a sony led consortium for 2.2 billion . 12 among the other companies that had competed for the recorded music business was warner music group which was reported to have made a 2 billion bid . 13 however impala has said that it would fight the merger . 14 in march 2012 the european union opened an investigation into universal s purchase of emi s recorded music division 15 and has asked rivals and consumer groups whether the deal will result in higher prices and shut out competitors . 16 coincidentally umg sister company studiocanal has owned the emi films library for several years . on september 21 2012 the sale of emi to umg was approved in both europe and the united states by the european commission and federal trade commission respectively . 17 however the european commission approved the deal only under the condition that the merged company divest one third of its total operations to other companies with a proven track record in the music industry . umg divested mute records parlophone roxy recordings mps records cooperative music now that s what i call music jazzland universal greece sanctuary records chrysalis records emi classics virgin classics and emi s european regional labels in order to comply with this condition . the beatles recorded music library was allowed to remain with umg despite being considered part of parlophone and is now managed by umg s reorganized capitol music group worldwide . 18 19 robbie williams who had previously recorded for chrysalis had his catalogue transferred to universal s island records . 2012 present emi integration and divisions reorganization edit universal music group completed their acquisition of emi on september 28 2012 . 20 in november 2012 steve barnett was appointed chairman & ceo of capitol music group . he formerly served as coo of columbia records . 21 in compliance the conditions of the european commission after purchase of emi universal music group sold a german based music rights company bmg the mute catalogue on december 22 2012 . 22 two months later bmg acquired sanctuary records for close to 50 million euros . 23 on november 8 2012 universal music and hewlett packard launched a marketing operation with a hp connected music computer the customer can access music from universal artists as well as exclusive content . 24 on february 8 2013 umg sold to warner music group the parlophone music group consisting of parlophone records chrysalis records emi classics virgin classics and emi records belgian czech danish french norwegian portuguese spanish slovak and swedish divisions to a value of 765 million 487 million . 25 26 play it again sam acquired co operative music for 500 000 in march 2013 . 27 the previous month sony music entertainment acquired universal s european share in now that s what i call music for approximately 60 million . 28 with emi s absorption into universal music complete its british operations will consist of five label units island polydor decca virgin emi and capitol . 29 edel ag acquired the mps catalogue from universal in january 2014 . 30 on march 20 2013 umg announced the worldwide extension of their exclusive distribution deal with the disney music group excluding japan and russia . as a result of this deal dmg s labels and artists have access to umg s roster of multiplatinum and grammy award winning producers and songwriters on a worldwide basis . 31 the exclusive deal also saw umg granted unlimited access to all rights pertaining to disney s 85 year back catalog of soundtracks and albums . 32 on april 2 2013 the gospel music divisions of motown records and emi merged to form a new label called motown gospel . 33 in may 2013 japanese company softbank offered 8.5 billion us dollars to vivendi for the acquisition of umg but vivendi rejected it . 34 as of november 14 2013 universal music will now distribute warner music group s releases in the middle east as a result of the integration of emi s branch in the said region . 35 better source needed on april 1 2014 universal music announced the disbandment of island def jam music one of four operational umbrella groups within universal music . universal ceo lucian grainge said of the closure no matter how much we might work to build idj as a brand that brand could never be as powerful as each of idj s constituent parts . 36 effective as of the same day of the announcement island records and def jam will now operate as autonomous record labels . david massey and bartels who are worked respectively at island and def jam records will lead the new record labels independently . 36 barry weiss who previously moved from sony music to head up island def jam music back in 2012 when motown records was incorporated into island def jam has stepped down from universal music . additionally as part of the changes to the labels motown records will be transferred to los angeles to become part of the capitol music group previous vice president ethiopia habtemariam was promoted to label president for motown records . 36 republic records now operates independently while the interscope geffen a & m group remains unchanged . 36 labels edit further information list of universal music group labels multimedia content delivery edit universal music group co developed vevo a site designed for music videos inspired by hulu.com which similarly will allow for free ad supported streaming of music videos and other music content . 37 locations edit los angeles metropolitan area edit santa monica edit universal music publishing headquarters in santa monica california . the umg main global headquarters are located at 2220 colorado avenue in santa monica . the santa monica headquarters oversees its legal obligations in the us and canada such as human resources and any legal issues surrounding the company . interscope geffen a & m and verve music group are based at their la headquarters with john janick heading interscope geffen a & m 38 and david foster heading verve . 39 def jam island and republic records has some offices at the santa monica headquarters . the building is also home to universal music enterprises ume . umg chairman & ceo lucian grainge works out of the company s santa monica headquarters . universal music publishing is headquartered at 2100 colorado avenue which is down the block from umg s offices . hollywood edit the capitol music group is headquartered at the capitol records building in hollywood . 40 tom cage was assigned to the record label in 2004 after a short outing with a & m records . universal city edit the headquarter of the universal music gmbh is located in berlin friedrichshain universal music group distribution is headquartered in universal city ca . new york city edit umg has a major workforce in new york city . umg s new york city headquarters deals mainly with universal s marketing information systems and finance . it is also where several of umg s labels are headquartered . island records def jam recordings republic records decca label group and the newly re launched geffen records are all headquartered in new york city . london edit universal music group global formerly known as universal music group international umgi is headquartered in high street kensington london . global manages umg s offices in most countries outside of north america . berlin edit universal music gmbh the german subsidiary is headquartered in