Ticketmaster and LiveNation Cleared to Merge
Ticket sales and distribution company Ticketmaster and live-events company LiveNation have been given permission to merge their companies, pending certain stipulations.
According to an article on Reuters.com, “Ticketmaster Entertainment (TKTM.O) and Live Nation (LYV.N) won U.S. antitrust clearance to merge after agreeing to divest certain assets, sending the shares of both companies sharply higher. The U.S. Justice Department said on Monday it was requiring Ticketmaster to license its primary ticketing software to a competitor, sell off one ticketing unit, and agree to terms that bar it from retaliating against venue owners who decide to use a competing ticket service.”
The deal, which is expected to close in a few days, will form a brand new company called Live Nation Entertainment. This new business would own more than 140 concert venues around the world, sell around 140 million tickets yearly and promote 22,000 concerts annually.
The Reuters.com article then goes on to say, “The combination of ticketing giant Ticketmaster with the world's largest concert promoter, Live Nation, had attracted criticism from artists, fans and some lawmakers, concerned the new company could dictate terms for major events. . . . Investors welcomed the decision, sending shares of Live Nation up 14.7 percent to close at $10.51 on the New York Stock Exchange. Ticketmaster shares rose 15.8 percent to finish at $15.40 in regular trading on Nasdaq. At those prices the all-stock deal would be worth $835 million.”
Meanwhile, Christine Varney, head of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, told reporters that she was ready to litigate on all counts until an agreeable contract was reached that effectively dealt with all of the anti-competitive issues.
The Reuters.com article then mentions, “Varney said that she expected to see ticket price decline as a result of the settlement. The agreement will last for ten years. Seventeen states joined in the settlement and Canada has a parallel pact imposing similar conditions on the deal.”