Earlier today, Tommy Mottola, Chairman of Sony
Music, announced his plans to launch a new music venture, after he resigning
from Sony. After being with Sony for 14 years and a reported loss of more than
$100 million in 2002, Sony released Mottola from his contract two years early
and Mottola stepped down.
"I have been thinking about taking up this
new challenge for about a year and really made the decision to go forward recently,"
Mottola said in a statement. Mottola won’t stray too far from Sony, as his new
venture will be in partnership with the record label.
He continued to say "I am thrilled that
I will continue my long-standing relationship with Sony to create a company
that I believe will become a blueprint for the music business in the coming
years."
Mottola joined Sony in 1988 and helped launch
the careers of Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Jennifer Lopez, among many others.
Additionally, he has worked with such superstars like Hall & Oates, John
Mellencamp, Carly Simon and Bruce Springsteen and Sony earned several GRAMMY®
nominations at Tuesday’s press conference.
Currently, no replacement has been announced
for Mottola, but is expected to be named within the next few days, according
to Sony. A Sony representative stated, "We deeply appreciate all that he
has done to extend Sony’s presence around the world, and we look forward to
working with him in the future."