The Industry Standard - LiveNation and Ticketmaster announce merger by Feb. 28? - Comments

This is now a done deal.

David Kuan — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:24:49 -0500

This is now a done deal. Officially announced at BOTH Livenation and Ticketmaster website.

http://press.ticketmaster.com/Extranet/TMPRArticlePressReleases.aspx?id=...

http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/19/194146/news/LiveNation...

Announcement is imminent.

David Kuan — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:32:30 -0500

Announcement is imminent. Officially, the Boards have approved the deal.

Negotations are now

David Kuan — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:33:02 -0500

Negotations are now complete. News are about that announcement will be made today or tomorrow by LiveNation and/or Ticketmaster.

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino would retain his title in the new company, and Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff would be named executive chairman, retaining his control of Front Line Management, the paper said. Barry Diller, who runs Ticketmaster’s former parent company and is TM’s chairman, will be named nonexecutive chairman.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/business/media/09ticket.html?_r=1&part...
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/09/business/ticket.1-425706.php
http://www.pollstar.com/blogs/news/archive/2009/02/09/647593.aspx

Bruce Springsteen, who gave

Yi-Wyn Yen167771 — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:23:19 -0500

Bruce Springsteen, who gave an excellent performance at the Super Bowl btw, is campaigning against this merger.

Yes, well a public

Yi-Wyn Yen167771 — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:30:45 -0500

Yes, well a public announcement from both or either that there is an intention to merge will be sufficient. It'd be fairly unusual if the companies announced a merger that their boards did not approve.

At this stage, we're not concerned with fed approval yet. Hope that helps, Edward.

This prediction is strictly

David Kuan — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:30:10 -0500

This prediction is strictly on a public announcement (absent of any approval from federal regulators and shareholders as well as the eventual merger).

What does "publicly announce

Edward Beckham — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:23:54 -0500

What does "publicly announce a merger" mean?

The body of the prediction obviously excludes the requirement that approval be obtained from federal anti-trust regulators. So, are it seems that this prediction is not really one that requires an ACTUAL merger of the 2 companies.

Is the spirit of this prediction more along the lines of the two companies officially/publicly announcing that they intend to merge, if regulators approve?

Does this prediction require that the boards of the two companies actually vote in favor of a merger (pending approval of fed. regulators)?

LiveNation and Ticketmaster announce merger by Feb. 28?

Yi-Wyn Yen — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:39:02 -0500

Judgment made on Feb. 10, 2009: Both LiveNation and TicketMaster have announced a definitive merger. The community bet correctly on this prediction. -- The Industry Standard

Original prediction: The Wall Street Journal reports that LiveNation and TicketMaster are getting ready to merge and a deal could be announced as early as next week.

The WSJ article reports: "The combined company would be called Live Nation Ticketmaster, and would merge the world's biggest concert promoter with the world's dominant ticketing and artist-management company. The resulting firm would be able to manage everything from recorded music to ticket sales and tour sponsorship. It could package artists in new ways, for example, allowing corporations such as a cellphone provider to sponsor a concert tour and to sell an exclusive download of a song."

Of course, merging Live Nation, the world's largest concert promoter, with a dominant ticketing company could raise eyebrows with the antitrust regulators. (But let's save that for another prediction.)

Prediction: LiveNation and Ticketmaster publicly announce a merger by Feb. 28, 2009.

Image: Madonna-pix/Flickr