Mean Fiddler share deal canned

MEAN FIDDLER, the music group, was thrown into turmoil today as a massive share placing was pulled only minutes before they were due to start trading and Dean James, its chief operating officer earmarked to become chief executive, was removed from the board.

Its shares crashed 10p to 43p. Vince Power, chairman, founder and architect of the gigs and festivals group, has been forced to put off the sale of his remaining 35% stake in the company at 55p a share which would have netted him £12m.

Power had planned to take a back seat with the group as a non-executive, simply overseeing festivals like Glastonbury, Leeds and Reading. Now he will stay on as chairman.

Mean Fiddler has also put off its planned £7.8m takeover of Media Internet Telecom which collects money from people downloading music from the internet.

Its owner, Richard Clingen, had been due to become chairman of Mean Fiddler. Media Internet Telecom already owns 50% of Mean Fiddler Media, the company's download business, and the deal may be revived in coming months.

Power chaired a board meeting which ran late into last night and was not available for comment today.

Sources close to the company said that today's shock announcements came as a result of a personality clash - presumably between Power and James.

James had been due to receive a £450,000 pat on the back through repriced options and a higher salary to reflect his role in turning Mean Fiddler from loss to profit. That will now not happen.