After a six-month power struggle, Arista Records founder and president Clive Davis has been ousted from his position in favor of Antonio "LA" Reid, a producer who co-founded LaFace Records with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds in 1989 in a joint venture with Arista. The announcement was made today by BMG Entertainment, Arista's parent company.

"Antonio brings to Arista an inspired track record as a businessman, Grammy award-winning producer and deeply committed record man,'' BMG Entertainment President and CEO Strauss Zelnick said in a statement. ``As Co-Founder and Co-President of LaFace Records, he has created a music powerhouse and helped develop some of today's top pop and R&B artists.''

Under the agreement, the LaFace name will be retained as an imprint, but the company will be folded into Arista.

Davis, 67, issued a statement that said he was disappointed by what he termed a corporate decision to enforce a rule requiring executives of German conglomerate Bertlesmann AG--of which BMG Entertainment is a part--to retire at age 60. Davis is said to be weighing several offers to launch a major entertainment company.

''I am fully prepared for and excited by the unique challenge of creating an unprecedented instant major record company consisting of the top executive and creative team in the business,'' Davis said in a statement. ''We will decide among the very substantial offers we've received to begin business in September.''

In a related development, BMG Entertainment announced that Edmonds had entered into a joint venture agreement with Arista to form a new record label. Edmonds will take the title of CEO of that label, which has yet to be named, on July 1.