Live Nation Entertainment

Live Nation Entertainment

Type	Public company
Traded as	NYSE: LYV
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	2010
Headquarters	Beverly Hills, California
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Greg Maffei (Chairman) Michael Rapino (CEO, director, president)
Products	Ticketmaster Live Nation Concerts Front Line Management Group Live Nation Network
Revenue	US$ 5.38 billion (2011)
Operating income	US$ 18.34 million (2011)
Net income	US$ -70.40 million (2011)
Total assets	US$ 5.088 billion (2011)
Total equity	US$ 1.62 billion (2011)
Employees	Full-time: 6,600 Part-time: 13,000
Website	livenationentertainment.com

Live Nation Entertainment is an American entertainment company, formed from the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The leadership consists of John C. Malone, chairman of Liberty Media as chairman and Michael Rapino, (currently chief executive officer of Live Nation) as president and CEO of the company. On January 24, 2011, media executive Barry Diller resigned from the board of directors after a reported internal boardroom struggle.^[1]

The proposal has received regulatory approval in Norway and Turkey.^[2] The United States Justice Department approved the merger on January 25, 2010 with some conditions to which both parties agreed.^[3]

In October 2009, the United Kingdom's Competition Commission provisionally ruled against the merger^[4] but on December 22, 2009, the Competition Commission reversed itself and decided to clear the proposed merger.^[2]

Clearance and divestment of assets to merge [edit]

Separate regulatory reviews of the proposal were continuing in the United States and Canada.^[2] On January 25, 2010, the United States and Canadian governments cleared the way for Live Nation and TicketMaster to merge.^[5] Irving Azoff is chairman and founder of Azoff Music Management Group, Inc. In late 2008, he became chairman and CEO of Ticketmaster Entertainment. He is now Executive Chairman of Live Nation Entertainment

As part of the agreement with Governments to merge, Ticketmaster has to sell its ownership in its self-ticketing company, Paciolan. According to the Associated Press, Live Nation Entertainment will be under a 10-year court order prohibiting it from retaliating against venues that choose to accept competitors' ticket-selling contracts, and it "must allow venues that sign deals elsewhere to take consumer ticketing data with them".^[6][7]

Also the new company will have to license a copy of its ticketing software to two companies — Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and either Comcast Spectacor or another “suitable” company — so that both companies can compete “head-to-head” with Ticketmaster for venues’ business. After five years, AEG will have the option of buying the software, replacing it with something else, or partnering with another ticketing company.^[8]

Opposition to merger [edit]

A group including members of the United States Congress and business rivals of Ticketmaster and Live Nation had urged the US Department of Justice to stop the merger.^[when?] The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), whose members include Google, Oracle Corporation, Microsoft, Yahoo, Intuit, and eBay, also opposed the merger.^[9][10]

Venues [edit]

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2012)

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Corporate Website