A former associate of Sub Pop, the legendary Seattle label, has revealed that Microsoft tried to buy it at the height of the grunge era. According to Dana Giacchetto, who brokered Sub Pop's subsequent deal with Warner Music Group, Microsoft hoped to become "a bit more hip" by buying a piece of the indie imprint that launched Nirvana.
It's been 20 years since Warner paid $20m (£12m) for a 49% stake in Sub Pop. Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, Giacchetto has offered new details of the sale - including Microsoft's previously undiscussed losing bid.
"Bill Gates, who at the time considered himself to be 'the future of entertainment,' couldn't have been a more dull character," Giacchetto recalled. While Geffen Records offered $8m for Sub Pop, and Sony Music $5m, Microsoft proposed "a paltry $4m, frankly insulting". If they had won, Giacchetto argues, "it definitely would have made Microsoft a bit more hip, which in hindsight might have actually made Microsoft a player in entertainment. They're still not."
Sub Pop co-founder Bruce Pavitt confirmed the story of Microsoft's interest in the label, calling Giacchetto "a charming charlatan" who pulled off "a brilliant deal with [Warner]". Warner were apparently not even the highest bidder for the company: Giacchetto claims Universal offered $25m, but "[weren't] the right creative fit".
Giacchetto remained a power broker in the years after the Sub Pop sale, helping Matador Records negotiate a deal with Atlantic and giving financial advice to celebrities like Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio and REM's Michael Stipe. But the former punk rocker wasn't always up to any good: he was arrested in 2000 and served 57 months in prison for embezzling his clients' funds.
Now 51, Giacchetto claims he was one of the inspirations for DiCaprio's character in The Wolf of Wall Street. "I lived it - not the stealing-money-from-poor-people part ... [but] a bacchanalian orgy for 10 years. He remembers partying with DiCaprio on the night of Titanic's titanic Oscars win: "We projected the Academy Awards on the wall and had every star come to New York to give the middle finger," he said. "The Academy Awards were a complete fucking sellout and anti-punk rock."
