Liberty
Records was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al
Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. In 1963,
the label was sold to Avnet for $ 12 million. Avnet also bought
Blue Note Records, Imperial Records, Dolton Records, Aladdin Records
and Minit Records.
After two years of losses, Avnet sold the labels back to Al Bennett
for $ 8 million.
In 1968, Liberty was bought for $38 million by Transamerica Corporation
(an insurance company) and combined with their other label United
Artists Records. Transamerica did not have a clue about running
a record company.
Al Bennett was fired after six months, and the company rapidly
declined.
Transamerica shut down Dolton and transferred Dolton's artists
to Liberty. Later they shut down Imperial and Minit and transferred
their artists to Liberty. Finally, in 1971, all releases were
shifted to United Artists Records and Liberty Records was no more.