User:Garethdennis/Ge GEM

Gareth Enterprises Multimedia™ or GEM™, is a British media company that operates a radio and television broadcasting network, a record label, is a global film producer and distributor and coordinates major annual music festivals across the world.

Formation
GEM was formed in 2008 by the British entrepreneur Gareth Dennis through the merger of the media companies of Gareth's Enterprising Group.

The media sector of Gareth's Enterprising Group had remained the most profitable since Gareth Enterprises, plc's incorporation in 1991, and had supported several new musicians to fame and released a number of blockbuster films along with running a successful radio and television broadcasting network. The sector began a lengthy reorganisation in 2006, during which Gareth Enterprises Multimedia™ was founded and a redistribution process began in which all assets associated with the various media companies under Gareth's Enterprising Group were bought by Gareth Enterprises Media Holdings & Assets and then purchased by GEM™.

After a substantial re-branding in mid-2007, most notably including the first Gareth's Enterprising Group affiliated logo not set upon the famous spiral-coloured square, the company was, in 2008, officially assembled into its current form, merging companies of Gareth's Enterprising Group that were otherwise operating to each other’s benefit without administrative support. This effectively created a unified media system, allowing all production and both distribution and display to be controlled by GEM™, particularly within the film industry.

This efficiency threatened several of the major US film studios. In January 2009, three months after GEM™’s creation, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) pressed for the return of the company to its original arrangement as a series of companies operating under Gareth's Enterprising Group. The Group conducted a report into the general monopolisation of all US film producers and distributors including itself, concluding that companies industry-wide operated in much the same manner. The findings of the report were presented to the FTC which confirmed that this style of operation did in fact provide the most efficient option to the consumers and also streamlined the recirculation of profits back into the hands of film makers.

During the same month, GEM™'s use of Warner Music Group (WMG) licensed material sparked criticism from the Group, and caused several minor lawsuits in an attempt to recover damages. This occurred repeatedly during the course of early 2009, and the clashes between the groups became more heated.

Warner Music Group
The battle between the Warner Music Group and GEM™ came to a head on the 16th of July 2009 when WMG sued GEM™ on the grounds of its use of WMG labelled music in its productions. As a reaction to this, other companies rallied to the cause of GEM™ under the wing of Gareth's Enterprising Group primarily including Google, which had also been in a long term battle with the WMG concerning posted videos containing material owned by WMG on its partner video community site YouTube.

In an interview with the NBC, a spokesman for WMG said:

"'We really have brought out the big guns for this one. GEM has been misusing music that we own by using it in their productions. We cannot allow this, it loses the artists money and it loses WMG's money. I hope that the court sees sense, and perhaps we will end the tyrannical way that [GEM] operates generally.'"

The court case started on the 24th of that month with Gareth Dennis himself in attendance. By the end of that day's hearing, Gareth's Enterprising Group succeeded in forcing the break up of the Warner Music Group and the displacement of its assets, including all licensed music and other material into a new company called GEM™ Soundbyte™ owned by a partnership between GEM™ and Google, with free creative commons licensing on all audio data. In all, nearly 800 jobs were lost from WMG in the transfer to GEM™ Soundbyte, with the majority of these being executive losses in management.

Sony
On the 5th of July 2009, Gareth's Enterprising Group and GEM™ entered into talks with the Sony Corporation of America on purchasing the company, which would also mean that GEM™ would have joint ownership of MGM Studios alongside Providence Equity Partners and Comcast (in association with TPG Capital, L.P.). The merger would result in little change to either company’s product branding, however Sony would become “A GARETHenterprises© Company” and would be registered by Companies House as the GEM Sony Corporation.

Constituent subsidiaries
The multimedia companies of Gareth's Enterprising Group were unified under Gareth Enterprises Multimedia™ in 2008. Now classed as subsidiaries, these include (though not exclusively):