Concert promoting and ticketing giant Live Nation is in talks to buy the management firms of musical acts U2 and Madonna. This would be an exceptionally lucrative deal for Live Nation considering the two acts have had some of the most highest-grossing tours in history.
According to the New York Times Live Nation would pay more than $30 million for both Principle Management, U2’s management company run by Paul McGuinness, as well as Maverick, run by Guy Oseary, Madonna’s manager. Though sources close to the deal confirm this, they could not be named because they were not authorized to talk about the deal publicly.
Variety notes if a deal is solidified, Oseary would take over day to day management of U2 and McGuinness would become chairman of Principle, with a role that is not yet fully clear. McGuinness and Oseary are two of the most prominent manager/executive figures in the music biz.
U2 and Madonna are no strangers to Live Nation’s artist management division, Artist Nation, which in 2007 made a deal with Madonna for touring and recording rights, and in 2008, made a deal with U2 to handle the band’s touring and merchandising exclusively for 12 years.