Live Nation Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. today announced that the two goliaths would merge, combining the biggest concert promoter with the leading ticketing and artist-management company.
The combined company, with almost $6 billion in sales, would touch virtually every aspect of the concert business.
Ticketmaster is the world's largest seller of concert tickets and owns an artist management firm that represents such major acts as the Eagles, Christina Aguilera and Miley Cyrus. Live Nation is the largest producer of live performances, staging over 16,000 concerts annually in 57 countries. It also has exclusive deals with Madonna, U2 and Nickleback.
Live Nation Chief Executive Michael Rapino would head the new company and Ticketmaster Chairman Barry Diller would be chairman. Ticketmaster's CEO, Irving Azoff, would become executive chairman.
Under the deal Ticketmaster shareholders would receive 1.384 shares of Live Nation stock for each share of Ticketmaster they own.
