Ticketing giant Ticketmaster is reportedly set to buy rival Live Nation in a deal that would create the world's largest concert promoter and the dominant name in event ticket sales.
While specifics of the deal are still sketchy Morgan Joseph analyst David Kestenbaum sees a lot to like in terms of the wide breadth of the combined company. He writes: "In a so-called 'merger of equals' combining the world's biggest concert promoter and the world's dominant ticketing and artist-management company, the combined firm would be able to manage everything from recorded music to ticket sales and tour sponsorship."
However, the deal does come with anti-trust concerns "given the conflicts between Live Nation's size in the concert promotion industry and the fact that Ticketmaster provides ticketing for many of Live's competitors. In addition, having the concert promotion and talent management under one roof could cause conflicts of interest," Kestenbaum writes. The WSJ, which broke the story, says the combined company "would have close ties to more than 200 artists" including the Eagles, Miley Cyrus and Christina Aguilera due to Ticketmaster's 2007 buy of Front Line Management.
A deal would also be a step forward for Live Nation, where its strategy of inking long-term deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars with major artists like Jay-Z and Madonna has been warily accepted by investors and remains largely unproven as Live Nation continues to lose money. (See: U2: The Band Who Beat The Promoter.) At any rate, the deal is reviving the share prices of both firms today. Ticketmaster jumped 15 percent on the news, and Live Nation shares were up as well.
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