Rolf Schmidt-Holtz became chief executive of Sony BMG in February 2006 in unpromising circumstances, and has faced a threat to his company’s very existence ever since.

Last week, that challenge was lifted when the European Commission cleared the 2004 merger of Sony and Bertelsmann’s recorded music businesses for the second time. The review was a “distraction”, Mr Schmidt-Holtz admits, but then insists “we are moving on.”